Fighting Pandemic Learning Loss and Accelerating Student Success

The pandemic caused a historic disruption in learning for all children, but especially those living in poverty. In addition to suffering adverse emotional and behavioral effects, many fell behind academically.

Only slightly more than a third of Black and Latinx students in New York City were on grade level prior to the pandemic. Then COVID-19 wreaked further havoc and exacerbated inequities that prevent low-income students from reaching their full potential.

The result: students entered the 2021-22 school year as much as a year behind where they typically would be, with low-income students of color experiencing nearly twice the learning loss of their white peers. Amid the pandemic, only 36% of NYC’s Black and Latinx students tested at grade level on the 2022 state English assessments, and just 22% were on grade level in Math.

One of Robin Hood’s three pillars of pandemic recovery was to Get Kids Back on Track in the classroom. So, we studied the evidence and invested in what works.

High-impact tutoring has been one of Robin Hood’s key strategies to accelerate student success and can add almost a year of learning for students in grades K-5—a critical intervention to ensure that a few disruptive years do not compromise lifelong success.

Tutoring takes place during the school day and is provided both individually and in small groups of up to four students, offered in the classroom and virtually depending on the program and students’ needs.

During the 2022-23 school year, Robin Hood worked with partners such as Amber Charter Schools, CUNY Reading Corps, and the Child Mind Institute to bring high-impact tutoring to 3,500 students. But we know that in order to reach as many students as possible who are struggling to get ahead, we have to bring this program to scale.

Through a public-private partnership with New York City Public Schools, we are providing $2 million in funding to ExpandED Schools, an organization that will lead the rollout and implementation of high-impact tutoring across the school system. ExpandED is training principals, matching schools with tutoring providers and tracking data to measure the impact of tutoring on reading and math proficiency. Through the partnership, we aim to reach 55,000 students over the next five years.

Hear from students, tutors and academic professionals who have benefitted from Robin Hood’s original investment in high-impact tutoring post-pandemic:

Amber Charger Schools

Hear from Sashemani Elliott, Chief Academic Officer, for Amber Charter Schools on how Robin Hood’s partnership is ensuring every child has the opportunity to achieve their full potential.

CUNY Reading Corps

One of Robin Hood’s community partners who are a high-impact tutoring powerhouse is CUNY Reading Corps. Hear from Paola Jimenez and Jessica Torres during a visit to P.S. 117 / The Briarwood School to see this high dosage tutoring in action.