Below is an excerpt from The Catch-Up, a special biweekly newsletter from the education news site The 74 about student struggles and school breakthroughs after COVID. Subscribe here.
Students who took part in a high-dose math tutoring program developed by The Oakland REACH in partnership with Oakland Unified School District improved their math scores, according to a recent Northwestern University study.
Children who received at least 10 sessions through MathBOOST saw their scores go up, on average, eight points more on a district assessment compared to those who did not.
MathBOOST, which started in 2023 as an offshoot of an earlier, pandemic-inspired effort around reading, culls tutors from the local community, many of whom do not have prior teaching experience.
Interested parties are trained and most win paying jobs — plus benefits — with the school district. Jessica Fyles, The Oakland REACH’s director of programs, said Northwestern’s findings validate their recruitment tactics.
“You can bring in community members, parents, aunties, cousins, sisters and brothers, to improve results for other people in the district,” she said. “This is untapped talent, people who have not necessarily been in schools before, but have so much knowledge of community. They know exactly what is at stake — and are ready to go all in.”
The Oakland REACH founder and CEO Lakisha Young said the model proves, too, that the people closest to the problem are the best suited to solve it. Unlike school leaders, or even teachers, parents are here to stay, she said.
“So they need to have more tools, agency and power to help close the achievement gap,” said Young, whose tutoring initiative this year expanded to a Fairview, Oregon, public school district and a Denver charter school network.
Meanwhile, Oakland Unified is in the process of taking over the MathBOOST program and is committed to its growth, said Alicia Arenas, the district’s executive director of elementary instruction.
“There is something special and impactful when students see members of their community working at their school sites,” she said.
Go Deeper:
- Tutoring Program in Oakland, Calif. Recruits Parents and Neighbors to Teach Math
- A Billionaire’s Gift Expands Reach of ‘Unapologetic’ Oakland Parent’s Group
- Oakland Study Finds Parents as Effective as Teachers in Tutoring Young Readers
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