National Nonprofit Accelerate Awards $5 Million to Five States Seeking to Integrate High-Impact Tutoring in Their Public Schools

WASHINGTON, April 26, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Accelerate, a national nonprofit organization working to make effective tutoring a standard feature of the American school day, today announced it has selected five states to receive $1 million each for the purpose of integrating high-impact tutoring into the school day during the 2023-2024 academic year. The grants have been awarded by Accelerate's States Leading Recovery program, which is focused on helping states adopt evidence-based tutoring models and address academic gaps by ensuring students receive effective individualized instruction.

"Most states recognize that high-impact tutoring is important, but we need a handful of leading states to create model policy agendas that other states can learn from," said Accelerate CEO Kevin Huffman. "We need the public sector to invest in tutoring programs that work and structure the school day so that all students have access to those programs, and we need the private sector to create products that are high-quality, scalable and easy to use. Accelerate is working on both sides of this equation with a serious sense of urgency — millions of students can't wait 10 years for the market to evolve."

The five states selected to receive grants are Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Louisiana and Ohio. In addition to the $1 million in funding each will receive, Accelerate will provide all States Leading Recovery grantees with implementation support. All grantees were also required to match the $1 million grant with public or philanthropic funds. 

"The U.S Department of Education estimates that 1 in 10 students is currently receiving effective tutoring," said Naeha Dean, Chief Strategy Officer for Accelerate. "We can dramatically increase this number, but only if states play a leading role. Tutoring is the best intervention we have to help students recover lost learning and excel. States can make it easier for districts to provide effective tutoring to students by identifying research-backed tutoring programs, offering funding and implementation support, and removing regulatory barriers that hinder districts' ability to embed tutoring during the school day."

Studies show tutoring tends to be most effective when it is delivered during the school day, three or more times per week, in alignment with core curriculum, and with close tracking of results.

"We are grateful for this recognition and the grant, which will allow us to partner with Reading Assist to support high-dosage reading tutoring across Delaware starting this summer. Helping students become strong readers is essential for their success in school and life. The earlier we can provide support the better the outcomes," said Delaware Secretary of Education Mark Holodick.

"We have seen early academic wins with our present tutoring strategy. However, by joining forces with Accelerate, we are poised to revolutionize and expand tutoring services, empowering even more children throughout Louisiana to unlock their full potential," said Dr. Cade Brumley, Louisiana State Superintendent of Education.

"I am proud Ohio was one of five states selected for the States Leading Recovery grant," said Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. "We are committed to improving literacy outcomes in our state and tutoring is an important tool to give students extra support and to accelerate student learning."

Arkansas has received funding to scale in-school literacy tutoring for students in grades K-4. In March, Arkansas passed the LEARNS Act, which bolsters state efforts in early literacy, deploying literacy coaches to struggling schools, requiring literacy screens for K-3 students, and requiring third graders to demonstrate reading proficiency before being promoted to fourth grade. Effective in-school tutoring is an important part of the state's strategy to improve students' reading skills.

Colorado has received funding to provide grants to local education agencies to implement high-impact tutoring in mathematics to grades 3-7 as an intervention to support learning recovery.  Last month, the state unveiled a bipartisan $25 million proposal to improve math achievement statewide through additional teacher training, expanded after school offering, and the acquisition of a statewide license for a digital personalized learning math platform that enables all Colorado schools to access it at no cost. Grant to support in-school tutoring in math facilitated by this grant will further support the state's focus on boosting math achievement.

Delaware has received funding to provide early literacy tutoring that aligns with the science of reading to students in grades K-3. In 2022, the state passed legislation to support the implementation of the science of reading, expanding professional development for teachers, requiring universal screeners to identify students in need of support, and setting standards for tracking and reporting, both on the number of students who are behind in grade-level reading and on the literacy interventions that these students receive. In-school tutoring is a research-based literacy intervention.

Louisiana has received funding to deliver tutoring in English Language Arts for grades K-5 and in mathematics for grades K-8. The Louisiana Department of Education has supported districts in their efforts to deliver high-dosage tutoring for the past two years.

Ohio has received funding to support early literacy tutoring in grades K-3. Already, the Ohio Department of Education has developed a list of tutoring programs that it considers to be high quality, and pending legislation would direct the Department to create a separate list of approved phonics-based science of reading materials for districts to choose from. The state's tutoring project would directly support this initiative, with a focus on literacy tutoring in grades K-3.

The announcement of the inaugural cohort of States Leading Recovery Grantees follows a competitive national selection process. Accelerate announced the grant opportunity in December 2022 and received applications from a dozen states.

Accelerate is supported by Citadel founder and CEO Kenneth C. Griffin; Arnold Ventures; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; the Overdeck Family Foundation; and the Walton Family Foundation.

About Accelerate

Accelerate is a nonprofit organization, incubated and launched by the national nonprofit America Achieves, that seeks to embed high-impact tutoring programs into public schools now and for the long term. Launched in April 2022 with an initial fund of $65 million, Accelerate funds and supports innovation in schools, launches high-quality research, and advances a federal and state policy agenda to support this work.

Accelerate is leading efforts to improve practice on multiple fronts, including as a lead technical assistance partner to the National Partnership for Student Success (NPSS). The NPSS is a joint partnership of more than 100 organizations, The Department of Education, AmeriCorps, the Johns Hopkins Everyone Graduates Center to launch a new coalition formed to expand high-quality tutoring, mentoring, and other evidence-based support programs, with the goal of ensuring an additional 250,000 adults serve in these roles over the next three years.

Accelerate is supported by Citadel founder and CEO Kenneth C. Griffin; Arnold Ventures; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; the Overdeck Family Foundation; and the Walton Family Foundation.

For more information, visit http://www.accelerate.us.

SOURCE Accelerate