The Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) announced today that it is investing approximately $5 million in federal relief funding to build a Math Tutoring Corps.
OSDE says the tutoring initiative will help close pandemic-related gaps in math learning and algebra readiness for up to 1,500 Oklahoma seventh- through ninth-grade students per year.
“The disruptions in learning and trauma associated with the pandemic exacted a serious academic toll,” said Joy Hofmeister, State Superintendent of Public Instruction. “In Oklahoma, as in many other states, educators are grappling with unfinished learning across all subjects, but the area most significantly impacted appears to be mathematics. The Math Tutoring Corps can reverse learning loss among the most severely impacted students.”
These students can participate in the Math Tutoring Corps on the basis of local and state assessment data.
There will be as many as 500 teachers and college students will serve as tutors, OSDE says, and each will be working with no more than three students.
All tutoring will take place virtually in three sessions per week outside of school hours, according to the press release. Students without access to hardware will be provided with them at no cost.
The OSDE has been actively recruiting tutors and expects to begin training with the tutors in December. Tutoring students through the Math Tutoring Corps program will begin in January 2022.
OSDE says that all tutors will be paid for their training and the tutoring of students. Educators selected as tutors will receive $50 per hour for training and tutoring, while college students will be paid $25 an hour, according to the press release.
TheMath Tutoring Corps initiative will be funded through the summer of 2024 and is a part ofReady Together Oklahoma: An Action Plan for Supporting Students Through the Pandemic and Beyond.
The OSDE launched this recovery plan in May withonline resources to support schoolsas theyleverage the best uses of federal relief funds.
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