Giving Compass' Take:

• Britt Neuhaus explains that both rigorous grade-level work and personalized learning are needed to help students catch up to grade-level. 

• How can funders help schools provide the supports that disadvantaged students need? 

• Learn about the importance of grade-level reading proficiency.

National data indicate that approximately 3 of every 5 students begin the school year below grade level, with those numbers even higher for low-income students and students of color. Educators know this is a problem, with one survey showing 39 percent of teachers agreeing that most of their students start the school year academically prepared for grade-level work.

While there is agreement that all students can succeed with the right support, there is a lack of consensus about what that support should look like in the typical classroom with one teacher and 25 students of varying levels, many of whom have significant learning gaps.

There are no magic solutions in education, but there is a path forward. Based on Bellwether’s analysis of the existing evidence and learning science, interviews with more than 50 stakeholders and a closer look at 14 model schools, students who are below grade level will see accelerated progress if they:

  • Are in an environment that fosters engagement and agency. This includes building a growth mindset, supporting student goal-setting, creating opportunities for choice, facilitating ownership and using culturally relevant content.
  • Have a caring relationship with their teacher, with frequent 1:1 and small-group learning opportunities. Students, particularly those whom the system has historically failed, need to feel psychologically safe and supported to take academic risks. In schools visited, both peer and adult relationships played a large role in students’ success and willingness to take on challenges.
  • Have consistent access to grade-level work. Most practitioners and researchers interviewed agreed that grade-level materials, and supports that enable students to engage with those materials, should be the backbone of instruction, and that personalized learning opportunities and remedial supports should not replace grade-level instruction.
  • See the coherence across materials and learning experiences. Students learning across core, supplemental and interventional (including digital) materials should experience clear connections across the three and have opportunities to transfer this learning back to grade-level standards. This coherence would not just span one grade level but work across grades so learning experiences build over time.

Read the full article about what students need by Britt Neuhaus at The 74.