Four years after the pandemic that shut down schools across our country, teachers are seeing the impact it had on student learning. Katherine Kuhns Treadwell, a teacher at the Newton College and Career Academy, decided to take action. She knew that for many students, the online learning environment led to gaps in their knowledge of math, science and English. Ms. Treadwell submitted a grant application to The Newton Education Foundation (NEF) proposing an after-school tutoring program to help students accelerate their learning to bridge the Covid-19 gap.
These grant funds allowed her to create a tutoring program with ample learning supplies including calculators, index cards, and study guide books. This, along with the one-on-one learning support provided by Ms. Treadwell, allowed students to make-up for lost learning.
As the program developed, Ms. Treadwell was excited to see an overall improvement in each student’s performance in math and English. Their grades have also improved as a whole. She noted, “Because of the learning gap retained from COVID-19, many of the students we tutor demonstrated a need for extra support based on the MTSS (multi-tiered system of support) scale but we have seen that the tutoring has allowed them to test higher and progress on the MTSS scale. It has also strengthened students’ foundational skills so they can be successful in their current classes.”
Gifts to Newton Education Foundation (www.newtoneducationfoundation.org/donate) support great educators like Katherine Kuhns Treadwell who continually seek ways to meet the learning needs of Newton County students.