Trenton – Legislation sponsored by Senator Vin Gopal and Senator Andrew Zwicker that would establish a High Efficiency Accelerated Learning Grant Program in the Department of Education, and make high-impact tutoring sessions accessible to students across the state cleared the Senate Education Committee.
Under the bill, the department would publish a list of tutoring providers with a record of high quality instruction in mathematics and English language arts. The department would develop performance standards and guides, and would establish a rubric to evaluate a tutoring program and determine the minimum qualifications to be included in the department’s list of high quality tutoring providers.
“While many quality tutoring programs already exist in pockets around the state, this legislation will help make sure that every child in need of high-impact tutoring instruction can have access to it,” said Senator Gopal (D-Monmouth), Chair of the Education Committee. “Research has shown time and again that robust, high-dosage tutoring is one of the best tools we have to combat learning loss and to raise student achievement.”
The grant program would be designed to support high-impact tutoring programs implemented by local education providers in partnership with a tutoring provider included on the department’s list. The department would develop and release program guidelines and a grant application process within 180 days of the publishing of the list of tutoring providers.
Grant funds for the program would be awarded to participating local education providers on a matching basis, subject to the limits of available funding. Per student costs proposed by the local education providers for tutoring programs would be matched at 100 percent. Any matching funds that are unexpended at the end of the State fiscal year would revert to the State.
“The data is clear. Top-quality tutoring can be a game-changer. It helps students achieve, and teaches them how to learn. This should be a matter of urgency for every district in the state.” said Senator Zwicker (D-Middlesex/Mercer/Somerset/Hunterdon).
A 2020 meta-analysis of 96 tutoring studies concluded that tutoring could help students make up three to 15 months of learning. A 2017 study found that tutoring was the most effective intervention for improving academic achievement among elementary and middle school students from low socioeconomic backgrounds.
The bill, S-3220, was released from committee on a vote of 4-0.