 | KEY MESSAGE: Supporting students in completing the learning disrupted by the pandemic is a top priority for all schools. District and school leaders are working together to accelerate student learning and improve student achievement outcomes through proven approaches such as tutoring, expanded learning time, and other instructional approaches. |
 | Talk about “acceleration” rather than “loss.” Many people believe the term “learning loss” does not accurately capture how students experienced the pandemic and misses the learning that did occur. Communication might instead consider describing the “impact of lost instructional time” or “disrupted learning,” and opportunities to “accelerate learning” – avoiding deficit language. |
 | Focus on forward-looking impact. It is important to emphasize that the pandemic has a long-lasting impact on student success, and that investments now will pay dividends both in the short-term and throughout a student’s experience. For example, providing high-quality tutoring today is an investment in our graduation rate years from now. |
 | Know who the services where available to AND who received services. |
| How were students identified for support, especially those who were disproportionately impacted by COVID? |
| If funds were passed onto schools, how were school funds determined? |
A theory of action, or logic model, is a tool to help you explain and talk about the reasons why resources were deployed as they were. The following graphic illustration of the relationship between a program’s resources, activities, and its intended effects is meant to help you speak about this investment priority. Logic models clearly and concisely show how interventions affect behavior and achieve a goal.
Download the graphic as a template you can edit.
Resource links related to research on this investment priority:
- Department of Education, (2021), ED COVID-19 HANDBOOK Roadmap to Reopening Safely and Meeting All Students’ Needs, Volume 2, https://www2.ed.gov/documents/coronavirus/reopening-2.pdf page 18
- Sloan McCombs, J., Augustine, C.H., Pane, J.F., & Schweig, J. (2020). Every Summer Counts: A Longitudinal Analysis of Outcomes from the National Summer Learning Project. RAND. Retrieved from: https://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/pages/every-summer-counts-a-longitudinal-analysis-of-outcomes-from-the-national-summer-learning-project.aspx.
- Nickow, A., Oreopoulos, P., & Quan, V. (2020). The Impressive Effects of Tutoring on PreK-12 Learning: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Experimental Evidence. (EdWorkingPaper: 20-267). Retrieved from Annenberg Institute at Brown University: https://doi.org/10.26300/eh0c-pc52.
- Ümmühan Yeşil Dağlı (2019) Effect of increased instructional time on student achievement, Educational Review, 71:4, 501-517, DOI: 10.1080/00131911.2018.1441808
- Kim JS, Quinn DM. The effects of summer reading on low-income children’s literacy achievement from kindergarten to grade 8: A meta-analysis of classroom and home interventions. Review of Educational Research. 2013;83 (3) :386-431.
- Barnum, M. (July 18, 2022). The state of learning loss: 7 Takeaways from the latest data. Chalkbeat. Retrieved from: https://www.chalkbeat.org/2022/7/19/23269210/learning-loss-recovery-data-nwea-pandemic
This section contains a templates to support messaging of ESSER investments related to accelerating learning.
