When I think of care, I think of counselors, therapists and programs to support student health — which can now be more robust thanks to federal Covid relief funds. I think of meaningful opportunities for community-building and self-expression in English classes like mine.

Care is also a serious aspect of education that grants teens organizational, critical thinking and communication powers to more effectively manage and enjoy their lives — an antidote to the helplessness and aimlessness that can plague young adults.

And so care can mean a reliable system for academic support in which students receive tools to meet the challenge of learning. In the education world, academic rigor and student wellness too often get characterized as opposing forces, like you can’t prioritize both, like one needs to balance the excesses of the other. Yet, when done right, they serve the same end.

I’m not advocating for some brutal, data-driven form of tracking and remediation that fails to account for students’ emotional needs, but for an entirely nonrevolutionary idea: a physical place where students can meet with tutors to get help with assignments. This is an obvious, research-supported move that’s too often left to the whims of individual teachers or departments. Importantly, it’s also too often divorced from wellness initiatives.

With districts enjoying more resources than usual because of the Covid relief, this is the time to invest in providing more academic support.

Graduate students earning credentials may be eager for part-time income. I would have jumped at this when I was at the University of California, Los Angeles 12 years ago. Qualified alumni who live nearby are community resources too. Plenty of recent college graduates piece together gigs as they weigh careers. With the start of quarantine in 2020, I suggested districts like mine capitalize on the number of grads doing college from home or staring down a bleak job market after finishing college. Call this work community service. It’s care in action.

Fingerprint these tutors, train them, figure out how to pay them, make a consistent schedule and assign them to grade levels. These should not be upperclassmen seeking volunteer hours. If using Canvas or a similar platform, teachers can even grant tutors “observer”-level access to class materials hosted online so they can see firsthand what students are doing without having to email teachers.

Read the full article about student mental health by Andrew Simmons at EdSource.