Legislators in the Ģ����Ƶ General Assembly have unanimously passed the , a bill that will transform the way math is taught in the state. It will open doors for students to receive a high-quality math education and ultimately shape the direction of their lives.

The Act brings significant updates to Ģ����Ƶ schools, including the adoption of new math standards, increases in the amount of time spent on math during the elementary school day, an advanced (compressed and accelerated) math track for qualifying students, and new requirements for teacher certifications.��

The changes will prepare students to take high school-level math classes like Algebra I in middle school and, if desired, to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

The legislation is based in part on recommendations from the Ģ����Ƶ Center for Opportunity (GCO), with additional support from and . The opportunities it creates will pave the way to fulfilling jobs, economic opportunity, and brighter futures for participating students, and especially for young African Americans, Latinos, and girls, who haven’t traditionally received significant STEM education.

“GCO has helped lead the charge in crafting this bill to bring more opportunity to all of Ģ����Ƶ’s students. A strong math education will empower young Ģ����Ƶns to reach their full potential and flourish in their careers and lives.”

Buzz Brockway, Vice President of Public Policy, Ģ����Ƶ Center for Opportunity

What Are the Key Elements of This Bill?

The Math Matters Act establishes several important measures to help students become proficient in math earlier in their academic development.

School Requirements

• In elementary schools, fourth and fifth graders will receive at least 60 minutes of core math instruction every day.
• School districts will design advanced math classes for students in grades 6-10.

Automatic Enrollment

School districts will automatically enroll students in the advanced math courses if they meet the qualifications.

• Parents or guardians will have the option to withdraw their child from the classes if they think the standard math track is a better fit.
• Parents of students who don’t qualify for the advanced math classes will still be able to enroll their child if the student’s score on the previous year’s math assessment is above a certain level.

Revised Teacher Certification Requirements��

The bill updates teacher certification requirements to make sure that all teachers are trained in developmentally appropriate, evidence-based math curriculums.

Supportive Student Services

The bill grants school systems the ability to offer tutoring or bridge programs to support students in the faster-paced courses.

Annual Reporting

Ģ����Ƶ’s Department of Education will publish annual reports on student demographics, enrollment, and test scores to make sure the advanced math curriculum is meeting its equity and achievement goals.

How Will Students Qualify for the Advanced Math Classes?

Students who receive high scores on statewide end-of-grade math assessments will be eligible for the advanced classes during the following school year.

What Types of Classes Will Students Take as Part of the New Curriculum?

Students on the advanced math track will be able to complete high school-level math classes—usually Algebra I—by the time they finish eighth grade. They’ll then be ready to tackle subjects like calculus in high school.

When Will the Advanced Math Courses Be Available?

The changes to math curriculums will go into effect for the 2027-2028 school year.

What Impact Will Automatic Enrollment Have?

Automatic enrollment supports equitable access to the advanced math track by removing barriers like possible teacher bias, a student’s lack of confidence, or participation fees. In the past, obstacles like these have sometimes prevented qualified but traditionally underserved students from setting foot on advanced academic pathways.

Barriers to early educational opportunity are still being reflected in the composition of our nation’s workforce. For example, a recent report from the revealed that the nation’s STEM workers were:

• 62.9% white 
• 14.8% Hispanic
• 9.5% Asian American
• 8.2% Black
• 4.3% multi-racial 
• 0.3% American Indian or Alaska Native

And just 18% of working women in the United States held a STEM job, per the report. 

Opening doors to all students and exposing them to challenging math coursework early in their academic development can and pave the way for young people’s future success and upward mobility.��

How Can Advanced Math Classes Build Bridges to Opportunity?

Research indicates that are twice as likely to graduate from high school. They’re also more likely to succeed in college and then accept meaningful jobs in STEM fields, which are critical to the nation’s economic success. And outside of work, the essential skills math teaches—analytical, logical, and problem-solving skills—will empower young people to serve as engaged members of their communities.

The advanced math track will give young Ģ����Ƶns the chance to experience the sense of dignity and purpose that comes from rewarding work—both academic and professional. And for students who are part of vulnerable families, this opportunity sets the stage for them to break out of generational cycles of poverty and to achieve their full potential. Their success will then ripple out, transforming their future families, workplaces, and neighborhoods.

Additional Resources

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Raising and educating young people takes . Everyone—parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, friends, clergy, coaches—plays an important role. Within this collaboration, parental involvement is especially powerful and yields numerous benefits for both children and schools. 

Research consistently that children with engaged parents tend to have higher academic performance, better attendance rates, improved behavior, and increased motivation to learn. Moreover, by gaining valuable insights, fostering a supportive environment, and enhancing overall student outcomes. When our kids are successful and able to show up as their best selves, our entire communities benefit from future generations of healthy, responsible, caring adults who are well prepared for meaningful work, relationships, and community involvement. 

As families prepare for a brand new school year, here are six ways that schools and communities can empower students and their parents and caregivers throughout the school year. 

1. Build strong communication channels between parents, children, and schools.��

Schools can employ various strategies, such as regular newsletters, parent-teacher conferences, class websites, and digital communication platforms to keep parents informed about their child’s progress, school activities, and opportunities for involvement. Encouraging two-way communication ensures that parents feel valued and heard, enabling them to participate in their child’s educational journey.

2. Offer and promote parent education programs.��

Parent education programs and workshops play a vital role in equipping parents with the necessary skills and knowledge to support their children’s learning. Schools can organize workshops on topics like homework assistance, effective communication strategies, and understanding curriculum standards. By empowering parents with the right tools, they become better equipped to engage in their child’s education and make informed decisions.

3. Encourage volunteering and participation.��

Volunteering opportunities provide parents or other primary caregivers with hands-on involvement in their child’s school and community. Schools can offer various volunteering options, such as assisting in the classroom, organizing events, or participating in extracurricular activities.

Volunteering strengthens the parent-child bond, and it helps parents understand the educational environment and feel a sense of belonging within the school community.��

When our kids are successful, entire communities benefit from future generations of healthy, responsible, caring adults who are well prepared for meaningful work, relationships, and community involvement. 

4. Create family engagement events.��

Family engagement events serve as an excellent platform to bring parents, children, and educators together. These events can range from family fun days, cultural celebrations, or academic showcases. 

By organizing inclusive and interactive events, schools can create an inviting atmosphere that encourages parents to participate and form connections with other families, thereby enhancing the sense of community.

5. Leverage technology to give parents flexibility.����

In today’s digital age, technology can bridge the gap between parents, children, and schools.  Online platforms and applications give parents easy access to information about their child’s progress, assignments, and upcoming events. Schools can use technology for virtual parent-teacher conferences, webinars, or online discussion forums, enabling greater flexibility and engagement for parents who may have time constraints.

6. Partner with the community to enrich students’ educational experiences.��

Collaborating with the wider community enriches the educational experience and broadens the opportunities available to students. Schools can engage local businesses, organizations, and professionals to offer mentorship programs, career guidance, or specialized workshops. Community partnerships foster real-world connections, expose children to diverse perspectives, and demonstrate the importance of community involvement.

Additional Resources

Want to learn more about how communities can support parents and foster the academic achievement and well-being of our youth? Check out these resources based on our Raising Highly Capable Kids parenting program:

• 5 Summertime Tips to Support Children’s Development
• Why Parental Involvement Is Key to a Child’s Health

The post Back to School: 6 Ways Communities Can Help Parents and Kids Succeed appeared first on For Opportunity.

Originally published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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In this guest column, Brockway discusses solutions to pandemic learning loss.

Ģ����Ƶ students are flocking back to their classrooms, but in addition to the usual assortment of back-to-school supplies, kids are taking something else with them — profound from the past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A 2022 research brief reveals that K-2 students are the greatest victims of learning loss. Furthermore, the literacy gap between minority and white students is now larger post-pandemic. Parents and teachers know that the earliest years of instruction are often the most impactful.

The post Expanded School Choice Can Help Pandemic Learning Losses appeared first on For Opportunity.

Key Points

• Voters are not saying other issues, such as race and gender, are not important, just that learning loss is more important.
• We can’t be thinking of this as a one-year catch-up.

• There are other interventions that have been shown to have effects, it’s just that no single intervention gets you all the way.��

It has been well documented that school closing due to the pandemic caused students to lose ground (see and ). Recent polling suggests that parents are very concerned about this learning loss and want political leaders to focus on this issue.

Consider this from :

Matt Hogan, a partner at Impact Research, said that it was striking to see Republicans seize an edge on an issue that “has historically been one of the Democrats’ strengths.”��

“There’s just a perception that Democrats’ focus on education is not where voters want it to be, which is helping kids make up the ground they lost,” Hogan said. “They think both parties are too focused on race and gender issues in schools, rather than focusing on catching kids up — but notably, they think that is true of Democrats even more so than Republicans.”

Notice that voters are not saying other issues, such as race and gender, are not important, just that learning loss is more important. Yet as we survey the political landscape, very few politicians or candidates are talking about what parents are most concerned about.��

Perhaps this is because there is no magic wand that can be waived to fix the problem. There is no list of “five easy steps to catch your kids up, and number four will blow your mind.” There are, however, things that can and should be done immediately.

Recently, Harvard economist Tom Kane produced a study of the impact of learning loss and proposed solutions. Kane’s research found that one-on-one tutoring was effective, but not effective enough to eliminate the learning loss for students in schools that were closed most of the 2020-2021 school year. Schools, he said, . Kane said:

So what can schools and districts realistically be expected to do in this situation?��

We can’t be thinking of this as a one-year catch-up. If we really are committed to making students whole and eliminating these losses, it’s going to be multiple years. There are other interventions that have been shown to have effects, it’s just that no single intervention gets you all the way.��

In March, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 which included substantial funding for education. However, only 20% of those funds are required to be spent on recovering learning loss. Kane suggests districts spend more than 20% or perhaps all of their ARPA funds on learning loss recovery:

We try to put the scale of the [learning] losses and the amount of aid that districts have received in the same scale. We report both as a share of an annual school district budget, which I think is a useful starting point for thinking about what it’s going to cost a district to recover. If a district has lost the equivalent of, say, 22 weeks of instruction as a result of being remote, and you’re asking what it’s going to cost to make up for that, the lower bound of the estimated cost would have to start with [the question], “What does it cost to provide 22 weeks of instruction in a typical school year?”

We think that’s a useful starting point for people, and what they’d see is that in the high-poverty districts that were remote for more than half of 2021, the amount of aid they received is basically equivalent to — maybe a little more, but not much more than — the magnitude of their losses in terms of instructional weeks. That just means that, rather than spending the 20 percent minimum that was required in the American Rescue Plan, some districts should be thinking that they’ll need all of that aid for academic catch-up.

Imagine how much better off our society would be if politicians and school leaders truly committed to not only eliminating the pandemic learning loss, but using those interventions to insure every student is on grade level. How wonderful would that be?

Imagine how much better off our society would be if politicians and school leaders truly committed to not only eliminating the pandemic learning loss, but using those interventions to insure every student is on grade level. How wonderful would that be?

Additionally, empowering parents to choose a school that best fits their child, be it traditional public school, tuition-free charter school, private school, or homeschool, should also be a tool we deploy to help get kids caught up.��

Polling has made it clear that parents want learning loss recovery to be a high priority for their child’s school. In this election year, candidates and elected officials would be wise to make this an issue in their campaigns. Parents should demand this of their candidates, and then hold them accountable to eliminating learning loss for every student.��

Imagine how much better off our society would be if politicians and school leaders truly committed to not only eliminating the pandemic learning loss, but using those interventions to insure every student is on grade level. How wonderful would that be?

The post We Must Close The Grade Level Gap appeared first on For Opportunity.

Key Points

• Ģ����Ƶ’s request to waive several testing and attendance measurements for the 2022 school year was��approved by U.S. Dept. of Education
• This move locks in the learning loss that took place during the COVID-19
• American Relief Package Act requires at least 20% of funds be spent on recovering learning loss

Ģ����Ƶ’s request approved

��Ģ����Ƶ’s request to waive several testing and attendance measurements for the 2022 school year. “Our goal is to establish a new baseline, rather than compare your schools’ performance to pre-pandemic norms,” said School Superintendent Richard Woods.

The Ģ����Ƶ Center for Opportunity’s (GCO) take:

“By doing this we are locking in the learning loss that took place during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said��Buzz Brockway, vice president of GCO. “This means for some students, they will never recover from the pandemic learning loss they experienced, nor are they expected to recover. This ignores the millions and millions of dollars Ģ����Ƶ’s school districts are being sent via the American Relief Package Act, which requires that at least 20% of those funds be spent on recovering learning loss. What will local districts do with that money? Is giving up best for students? Ģ����Ƶ’s parents should march in loud protest to accepting that pandemic learning loss is the new norm.”

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For some students virtual classes during the past year have been fine. Some have even thrived. But for many special needs students, it has not gone well, as a parent tells the Ģ����Ƶ Center for Opportunity:

A virtual classroom worked fine for Jennifer’s two older children, but her youngest son, 10-year-old Joey, has Down syndrome. Online learning is entirely unworkable for him due to his special needs.

For example, DeKalb is following a normal bell schedule but staying engaged on Zoom for hours on end is not working. Morning classes will sometimes go well, but by lunchtime Joey is tuned out. It is impossible to get him back online after the lunch break for specials, such as music and art, and Jennifer cannot stay tied up until 2:30pm every day. She has seen academic and social regression for her son as he has little to no interaction with peers.

Additionally, his academic growth is limited due to repetitive practice of current skills on worksheets with no new individual instruction to learn new concepts in language arts or math. As a highly visual and experiential learner, he is missing the magic that happens in a classroom that cannot be replicated on a Zoom call.

“It’s day-by-day and minute-by-minute,” Jennifer shares. “One class he is engaged and on task, and the next minute he is hiding under the bed or taking his shirt off.”

All children, no matter their needs, deserve the opportunity for a��high-quality education that meets their individual��requirements.��

Today, on 130 studies on the safety of school reopening. The report found:

• Any benefits to closing schools are far outweighed by the grave risks to children from remote-only schooling — risks that intensify the longer it continues, the report says.
• The harms include academic loss — so severe that it could set children back for life — and mental health problems related to loneliness and isolation.
• There are also severe hardships on parents — mothers in particular, about two million of whom have left the workforce to care for their kids as part of remote learning.
• “Schools are not super-spreaders,” observes the report, written by John P. Bailey, a former deputy policy director at the Department of Commerce.

Fortunately for face to face learning. The rest need to reopen ASAP, and plans need to be made to help students who fell behind catch up.

This post on on March 11, 2021.

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By Jennifer K. Hale��

“Supporting virtual teachers is just as important as supporting traditional classroom teachers and making the connection with the virtual teacher will be key to your student’s success.”

Making the swap from brick-and-mortar schooling to a virtual setting might be a challenge for some families. In fact, it may seem daunting. But with a few simple tips and reminders, families can make virtual schooling feel as normal and natural to the family lifestyle as traditional school ever was.

There is one crucial factor that makes a student successful in the virtual setting—an involved parent or learning coach. After years as an educator, the last seven of those at a virtual school, I know for certain that the students who adapt to virtual schooling, achieve high grades and test scores, and make advancements in their education are those who have a support system at home to help them and encourage them. This is true of a traditional brick-and-mortar school setting as well, but it is especially vital in the virtual setting. Because the teachers, faculty, and administration have physical barriers in the virtual setting, it is imperative that the student have someone in the home environment who can serve as their support system, advocate, and daily encouragement.

Not only is this support system key for the student, it helps the teachers as well. Supporting virtual teachers is just as important as supporting traditional classroom teachers and making the connection with the virtual teacher will be key to your student’s success.

One of the main things you can do as the new school year begins is remember to treat the virtual teacher with the same respect that you would a traditional classroom teacher. These are professionals, trained and certified in the exact same way as traditional classroom teachers. Most, if not all, have been traditional classroom teachers at some point in their careers. In fact, in many school districts, the virtual teachers will actually be the classroom teachers who are now moving to virtual platforms due to the pandemic. Be respectful of their knowledge, passion, and drive to see your student succeed.

So what else can you, as a parent and learning coach, do to support your student’s virtual teachers?

• Read all emails and communications. Pay attention to details, updates, deadlines, expectations, and requirements.

• Set calendar reminders for yourself to help remind your student about important deadlines, etc.

• Communicate with the teachers frequently. Don’t be afraid to send an email or pick up the phone to ask clarifying questions.

• Learn the virtual platforms. This may seem overwhelming but learning at least enough to check your student’s gradebook and communicate with the teacher will go a long way. Parent training on this should be provided by your school district.

• Check regularly to make sure your student is logging in and completing work on time.

• Check your student’s gradebook weekly, at minimum.

• Attend any online open houses, orientations, and/or parent conferences. Take the opportunity to get to know your student’s teacher.

• If you want to show appreciation like you occasionally would in the traditional classroom, send the teacher a kind email, voice message, or even a gift card via email.

The greatest thing you can do to support the virtual teacher is show patience. Parents feel uncertainty right now and have many questions. Teachers have these same feelings and questions. Some teachers face the same issues that you do—how to work while their own children are home and educating virtually, how to balance the work/family dynamic, and how to live day to day in a nation swirling with insecurity. Showing patience as we move forward together sets a wonderful example of resilience and bravery for our students.

Teachers who are passionate about their profession will meet the challenges of educating virtually in a pandemic with courage and ingenuity. They will create engaging, exciting lessons for your student and will do everything in their power to form relationships with your child, exactly as they would in a traditional classroom.

Take the time to reach out with any questions and concerns, but your encouragement is also appreciated. Let your student’s teacher know how much you appreciate their hard work and preparation for a challenging school year that will certainly turn out to be historic. Make a commitment now with your student and the teacher to work together to make the virtual education experience exciting, engaging, and an integral part of your child’s development.

Virtual education was once a wonderful option for families, but in this pandemic has become a requirement for many who weren’t expecting it. We’re all learning together and a positive attitude will go farther than anything else. We teachers encourage you to take advantage of this time in our history to make memories with your child so that one day they will look back on this time not remembering what they “missed” by not being in a traditional classroom, but what they gained by having the opportunity to learn virtually. Certainly history will reflect that the option of virtual schooling provided a nation of students the education they needed in a time when caution was most important.

Jennifer K. Hale is an Assistant Principal at High School. She is passionate about student success through high quality teaching and best practices. Originally a history teacher, she is also passionate about helping students to become active, knowledgeable citizens of our nation.

EVERY CHILD WITH ACCESS TO A QUALITY EDUCATION

A quality education is key to a child’s future success. Academic achievement paves the way to a good job, self-sufficiency, and the earned success we all want for our children. To learn more about education options in Ģ����Ƶ click here.��

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Writing in his book Endurance, Alfred Lansing says the crew had “a feeling of astonishment which soon gave way to a sense of tremendous relief.”

A century after Shackleton’s adventure, Ģ����Ƶ parents should know the feeling. A state supreme court ruling almost disbanded many of the state’s charter schools due to a lawsuit five years ago ( that resolved the issue). In 2013, the Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent said n in the city until a pension lawsuit was complete. Charter schools have served the city for years, and, according to a Ģ����Ƶ Department of Education report, are located in metro Atlanta (the two years later).

Having weathered these storms, parents and policymakers would welcome the sight of land in the form of student success.

Yet charter school achievement does not always have a simple explanation. This is especially true in Ģ����Ƶ, where charter schools fall into four different categories. Raw test score analyses benefit from comparisons of similar students and schools (and random student assignment to schools if possible).

Even without such data crunching, there are strong results that vary across school types and grade levels that should give students, parents, and lawmakers hope for the direction of state charter schools.

First, on the nation’s report card, more low income Ģ����Ƶ charter school 8th graders scored at the “Basic” level or above than their peers in district schools (Figure 1). In reading, 82 percent of charter students score at Basic or above, while 69 percent of their peers in district schools scored at this level. In math, 65 percent of charter 8th graders scored above Basic, compared to 63 percent in district schools. Fourth grade students are behind their peers in reading and no data are available for math.

Source: National Center for Educational Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress Data Tool. Author calculations.

These results mean a higher percentage of low-income 8th grade Ģ����Ƶ students attending charter schools demonstrated at least the basic skills necessary in these subjects. using Arizona charter school data (with even more positive results) and in the ’s annual report card.

The complication in these data is that Ģ����Ƶ charter schools (the number of schools of each type is in parentheses):

• “Start-up” (77): These are the independent public schools most policymakers and parents are familiar with. Teachers and community leaders form these schools as an alternative to assigned district schools.
• “Conversion” (18): A “converted” public school, as the name implies, is a school that changed its status from a traditional public school to a charter school and given more operational autonomy in exchange for higher levels of accountability.
• “State start-up” (): A state commission authorizes these schools (the state supreme court ruling mentioned above threatened these schools).
• “Charter systems” (326): These school systems are traditional districts given more autonomy so that the rules under which the schools operate resemble charter school regulations.

More test scores are available in the the state department of education’s . According to end of grade test results, converted charter schools and start-up charters are well ahead of their district peers in nearly every subject in 8th grade in the percent of students exceeding the state standard (see Figure 2 for an example of 7th and 8th grade comparisons; for more results, see the link beneath the chart for the full report).

Source: Ģ����Ƶ Charter Schools and Charter Systems, 2014-15 and 2015-16, Ģ����Ƶ Department of Education, p. 44,

The most encouraging finding is that the average results for all charter schools (the orange bar in Figure 2) are higher than non-charter schools (light blue bar) for every subject, in every grade except 8th grade Social Studies and Math in the state report. Charter high school students also out-performed district peers in English, geometry, biology, and economics.

Ģ����Ƶ charter schools should have parents breathing a sigh of relief. The project of creating and sustaining quality schools so that every child has the chance to succeed is never finished, but Ģ����Ƶ has given parents several ways to do so. With all that Ģ����Ƶ charter school families have been through, this success is welcome.

The post Land Ho! appeared first on For Opportunity.

Peggy Carr, acting commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, said that the national scores were not encouraging and represent an unexpected downturn.

The percentage of Ģ����Ƶ fourth graders reading at a proficient level fell one point from 2013 to 33 percent. Making sure students improve their reading efficiency is a must. If a child is struggling with reading by the time they reach the fourth grade, their ability to learn new concepts and subjects is hindered, and they fall behind in other key areas where reasoning and logic are required.

For eighth grade students, the percentage of students scoring at a proficient level decreased to 30 percent from 32 percent in 2011. Students in the eighth grade must be able to read and comprehend different “,” analyze information from different mediums and be able to interpret their findings and present them in a clear report.

For mathematics, fourth grade is when students are not just learning concepts, but are learning to problem-solve. The number of fourth graders who scored proficient in mathematics fell four points to 34 percent in 2015. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that “state education officials were particularly concerned about the four-point drop in fourth-grade math, and planned to refocus efforts on getting students better prepared in ‘foundational’ work.”

Eighth grade mathematic proficiency also decreased in 2015 to 28 percent (from 29 percent in 2013).

Ģ����Ƶ’s proficiency scores put the state on par with Arkansas and South Carolina, with only a point or two difference between the states. Most Southeastern states scored below the national average with the exception of Florida, which scored above the national average in both fourth and eighth grade reading. Florida is also home to the most robust school choice program options in the nation, allowing parent to choose the best learning environment for their children.

For several years Ģ����Ƶ students have fallen short of the national average education scores. Students are falling behind and parents need additional options and resources to put their children in the education environment that best fits their learning needs. Ģ����Ƶ currently has some limited choice programs, but expanding choice – through ESAs or other school choice programs – is the only way to put Ģ����Ƶ students first.

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