NJBIA, the New Jersey Manufacturing Extension program and the state Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday endorsed Rep. Mikie Sherrill’s bipartisan Expanding Access to High-Impact Tutoring Act aimed at combating student learning loss that occurred because of the pandemic.
The business leaders underscored the critical need for federal investment now in public education to ensure pandemic-related learning loss does not have lasting detriments to New Jersey’s economic future and the potential of our workforce.
“Education is at the center of talent and workforce development,” said NJBIA President and CEO Michele Siekerka. “The Expanding Access to High-Impact Tutoring Act demonstrates practical and efficient use of American Rescue Plan resources to execute successful solutions to addressing learning loss due to COVID-19.
“This plan will offer states a jumpstart investment to develop high-impact tutoring programs that provide the next generation of talent with the tools they need to succeed in the 21st century workforce and beyond,” Siekerka said.
Tom Bracken, president and CEO of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, said state chamber applauds the bipartisan federal legislation because it will provide students with extra coaching and instruction so they can catch up.
“This is especially important as jobs become more complex and require higher degrees of education or vocational training,” Bracken said. “The success of our economy and position as a global economic leader depends on properly addressing the urgent needs of a whole generation of students who lost out on academic and social opportunities due to the pandemic.”
Peter Conolly, CEO NJMEP, noted today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders, inventors and job creators.
“Industries like manufacturing are only becoming more and more complex, requiring advanced skill sets and mathematics knowledge,” Connolly said. “As the industry becomes a more popular career choice because of the incredible career opportunities it offers, we want to make sure students are ready to take on these roles as they progress through their educational journey.”
The Expanding Access to High-Impact Tutoring Act would provide grant funding to States to help them implement and administer high-quality tutoring programs in K-12 school districts, and also provides resources for the Department of Education and States to develop a nationwide tutoring workforce. An amendment funding the implementation of high-impact tutoring grant programs, submitted by Rep. Sherrill, was adopted in the FY2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.
Across four large-scale literature reviews of high-impact tutoring that together cover more than 100 studies, one-year of tutoring has been found to increase student achievement by the equivalent of 0.8 school years’ worth of learning. This means that a student enrolled in their typical K-12 school with access to high-impact tutoring will learn almost a full school years’ worth of material more than a similar student who doesn’t have access to this tutoring.
This large improvement in students’ academic achievement has a major impact on their ability to get good-paying jobs after graduation and will strongly support businesses in filling open positions given the historic workforce that our economy has faced. One additional school year’s worth of learning is estimated to increase adult earnings at age 27 by about $2,300 annually.
The learning gains of 0.8 school years from high-impact tutoring, therefore, is likely to increase adults’ income levels by over $1,800 each year. This would imply a benefit-cost ratio of about 5- to-1 from income gains alone.
The Expanding Access to High-Impact Tutoring Act is also endorsed by a large number of teachers and education advocacy organizations, including the National Education Association, New Jersey Education Association, New Jersey Association of School Administrators, New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association, Teach for America, Third Way, Saga Education, New Jersey Tutoring Corps, Results for America, America Forward, ProvenTutoring, Accelerate, and Innovate.
The bill was introduced by Rep. Sherrill and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) and has 14 bipartisan co-sponsors, including Reps. Colin Allred (D-TX), Don Davis (D-NC), Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Derek Kilmer (D-WA), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Annie Kuster (D-NH), Rob Menendez (D-NJ), David Scott (D-GA), Terri Sewell (D-AL), Shri Thanedar (D-MI), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ).
