Arizona redirecting $40M to tutor students behind in reading, math

PHOENIX — The state’s top schools official is setting aside $40 million of federal COVID relief money to provide personal tutoring for students who are not meeting proficiency standards in reading or math.

But only a small fraction of the more than 525,000 students in first through eighth grades who need the help are going to get it. Whether they do could depend on how quickly their parents register them by computer when the sign-up begins later this month.

Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said the money is being “clawed back’’ from some other federally funded programs operated by private and nonprofit entities previously approved by Kathy Hoffman, his Democratic predecessor. Most of the money went to entities that worked inside schools to help compensate for the sharp losses in achievement after many schools shut down and went to online learning during the pandemic, said Michelle Udall, an assistant superintendent.

Each was given an opportunity to show their programs were working, Udall said. Those that could provide evidence of academic achievement will keep getting the money. Those that could not were notified their funding is being cut off, she said.

There apparently are a lot that couldn’t: Udall estimated total reclaimed dollars could be as much as $75 million — more than half the $130 million the Arizona Department of Education received in funds from the American Rescue Plan.

The decision was made to put at least $40 million of that into more direct services — in this case, tutoring.

“There’s a lot of data nationally to show that tutoring is pretty much the most impactful way to improve student academic outcomes,’’ said Udall.

Goal is six months’ progress in six weeks

The new program is designed to provide four hours a week of direct tutoring for six weeks, with the goal of making six months’ worth of progress in math or reading during that time.

There’s an incentive for public school teachers who agree to be tutors: They get $30 an hour plus an extra $200 for each student who reaches that progress goal — a figure Horne said could add up to $8,000 for the school year for a participating teacher.

That has a benefit of its own, Horne said. “We must pay our teachers more,’’ he said. “No school is better than the teachers in the classroom. And we’re losing teachers to our surrounding states.’’

The more immediate issue for students and their parents is getting access to a tutor.

Horne figures that 60% of students in Grades 1 through 8 are not proficient in reading as measured by standardized tests. Two-thirds fail to meet the standards for math, he estimates.

In some cases, there is some overlap of students who are behind in both categories. But state education officials don’t have hard data.

That produces a figure of at least 525,000 students who are behind.

First-come, first-served

Only thing is, Horne figures the $40 million will pay for about 1.3 million hours of tutoring. Using the figure of 24 hours of help per student — four days a week, six hours a day — that provides enough for only about 54,000 students to get the tutoring help.

Even assuming some teachers take on three students at once, which is permitted under the program, that still puts the maximum enrollment at fewer than 165,000 students.

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Asked whether it’s appropriate to publicize a program that won’t be able to help most who need it, Horne responded at a news conference Tuesday: “I think improving proficiency for 54,000 is very significant. It doesn’t solve the whole problem. (But) We have to deal with the money we’ve got.’’

The department expects to have an enrollment form on its website as of Sept. 15.

“I don’t know how we could do it, other than first-come, first-served,’’ Horne said.

Testing is part of the plan

The money paid to the tutors is only part of the cost.

Horne said the state is going to contract with a private firm to develop tests administered to enrolled students before the tutoring starts and afterwards to determine if they are meeting the anticipated six months’ worth of progress, and whether the tutors are entitled to a bonus. But he said his department has money above the $40 million for that, ensuring that the test preparation and administration costs won’t cut into tutoring funds.

The decisions on which existing programs to cancel and take back their remaining funds were not based on his own personal opposition to what he calls “social and emotional learning,” said Horne.

That is generally defined as tools to help young people regulate their emotions, establish and maintain relationships, and show empathy for others. Horne has said this has no place in the classroom.

But he said Tuesday that wasn’t automatically considered a disqualification from further funding.

“I believe that emotional problems can interfere with learning,’’ Horne said. “A student (who) comes to school very upset about what’s going on at home, it’s tough for them to learn.’’

The key, he said, is showing an academic link.

“If you had a program that was directed towards students’ emotional health, which can affect learning, all you have to do is show us that it did affect learning,’’ Horne said. “If you can give us data showing that your improvement of student emotional health resulted in better academic progress, then you got to keep the funds.’’

Doesn’t want money to revert to feds

Some of the money for the tutoring program is coming not from canceled programs but from others the Department of Education has found effective but will not be able to spend all of their allocations by Sept. 30, 2024 — the spending deadline in federal law.

“One of the things we want to be sure is that no money goes back to the federal government,’’ Horne said.

Nothing in Tuesday’s announcement affects the balance of the $2.7 billion the state got in federal COVID relief money that went directly to public schools. Udall said schools have used it for various programs designed to get students caught up, including some that set up their own tutoring efforts.