Alders Advance $3M Reading, Math Plan

The Elicker Administration’s bid to spend $3 million in federal aid on a new math and literacy tutoring plan moved ahead — against a backdrop of questions and concerns around how exactly the city will find the hundreds of volunteers needed to make this program work.

That approval was granted Wednesday evening at a joint meeting of the Board of Alders Finance and Education Committees. The two-hour-plus meeting took place in person in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall. 

The vote of support came a little more than a month after Mayor Justin Elicker and a handful of top city officials, New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) leaders, and tutoring nonprofit heads unveiled the $3 million federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)-funded effort at a City Hall press conference. The spending plan now heads to the full Board of Alders for review and a final vote.

The rough draft of the tutoring plan was presented to the alders and community Wednesday night by Sandra Okonofua, a policy analyst for the mayor’s office, and by NHPS Assistant Superintendent of K‑8 Instruction Keisha Redd-Hannans. 

The 10 committee alders present voted unanimously in support of the plan, with a condition added by Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker-Myers to create a separate committee — to consist of an alder, a Board of Education member, and a city staff member — that would be charged with keeping local legislators and public education leaders in the loop as the the program plan develops and rolls out.

Click here to view a slideshow of Wednesday’s presentation.

1,500 Students By 2025

Okonofua started out by presenting NHPS student assessment levels from recent years that showed a decline in student proficiency in both math and literacy. 

In Spring 2019, the city’s public school district saw 30 percent of third graders on grade level in both math and literacy. 

Last school year, the third-grade reading proficiency rates dropped to such an extent that 83 percent of third graders were reading below grade level and 87 percent performed below grade level for math.

The citywide math and reading tutoring initiative, Okonofua said, will include supplemental work to the current programs NHPS has put in place to tackle literacy and math declines as well as increased chronic absenteeism rates and an uptick in student mental health challenges and needs. 

The $3 million plan has three components: in-school and after-school tutoring, community engagement, and parent and family support. 

So far, city staff have not yet decided exactly how to spend the requested $3 million allocation or which local tutoring organizations to partner with. 

The plan as the Elicker Administration envisions it right now will rely on trained volunteers to provide literacy and math supports in and after school to 1st-5th graders. 

The initiative calls for a lead local organization to spearhead programming alongside partnerships with several other academic after-school programs to facilitate the tutoring. 

The final component of the plan would provide parents and families with resources to support students’ literacy and math development while at home.

Okonofua said the ​“high dosage” tutoring will include two to three interactions a week that will last at least 30 minutes during the after-school and in-school work. 

The plan also sets a maximum student-tutor ratio of three students to one tutor. The goal is to extend the reach of current public school educators, Okonofua added. The plan is not designed to replace students’ daily instruction with certified teachers. 

“This is not a stand-alone project,” she said. 

Okonofua and Redd-Hannans presented several case studies showing the impacts of ​“high dosage” tutoring in school districts in North Carolina, Colorado, and Tennessee, all of which saw positive preliminary results of student growth.

For the family engagement component of the plan, Okonofua said the city will aim to have a partnership with the NHPS Office of Youth, Family and Community, with the goal of hosting family literacy/math nights.

The city hopes to start with 375 students who already participate in programs run by local tutoring organizations that partner with NHPS. The program then intends to grow to include a total of 1,500 students by the summer of 2025. 

As the plan gradually builds capacity, more volunteers will be needed to continue providing students with at least four hours of tutoring. 

“One idea that this initiative is proposing, in order to leverage the resources of this city is to engage businesses and business owners to donate employee time to tutoring NHPS students at about one to two hours per month per employee,” Okonofua said.

What About The Volunteers?

Following the presentation, alders asked the city and school representatives a slew of questions about the nascent plan.

How does the city plan to recruit volunteers for such a program? Is there a backup plan if not enough volunteers sign up? What do the budget plans look like for the millions of dollars requested? Will transportation be needed to carry students to and from these tutoring programs? Who will collect assessment and evaluation data and how will that be done to track student progress? How will students will be recommended to receive tutoring?

Okonofua made clear Wednesday night that the initiative is still very much at its beginning phase. Many of those details have not yet been figured out. 

She did share that a part of the plan’s budget will be allocated to hiring a few key individuals to help manage the program and potentially collect and analyze student data.

“Three million dollars is not a lot of money towards our kids, so I’m just concerned and feel like we just need to pay every penny towards out kids versus another staff member to be hired,” East Rock Alder Anna Festa said. 

“The priority of spending of this money will not be on increasing bureaucracy,” Okonofua said. ​“Every dollar that is spent towards hiring staff will have a return on investment in the form of student and program performance.”

She added that some smaller or larger organizations who can be selected to support the initiative may need a designated manager hired to ​“facilitate and coordinate the program well, that will speak volumes in terms of student outcomes.” 

When asked by Festa if NHPS plans to also invest some of the school district’s ARPA ESSER funds toward the initiative, Redd-Hannans said the district is using its funding to continue establishing its own initiative around math and reading as well as chronic absenteeism and social emotional learning. 

She added that the school district will be offering its staff of certified teachers opportunities to fill as many of the plan’s tutor spots as possible.

When asked by Walker-Myers what the city’s Plan B will be if not enough volunteers step up, Okonofua said the program could include interns — but that option is not the city’s goal. 

“Is there any other plan or is this the plan to ask employers to donate one to two hours a month?” asked Fair Haven Alder Sarah Miller. 

Okonofua said the city will not just look to businesses. It also plans to connect with local universities and colleges and other organizations to volunteer time. 

Miller added that she hopes to see the initiative focus a huge part of its work on in-school tutoring rather than after-school programming which can present inequities due to barriers like like a lack of transportation.

Okonofua responded that the city hasn’t yet decided on how much tutoring will occur in school and after school and that transportation could become part of the initiative’s budget. 

“The preference is to do that which is most effective and to the extent that we can prioritize in school, we would love to. But if in the beginning we have to prioritize after-school programming just because of the existing partnerships that we have we may do that with full understanding that we’ll hopefully scale up to a greater emphasis on in-school programming,” Okonofua added. 

Miller said in recent years she has gotten requests from her children’s principal to recruit paid tutors for the school because the school is struggling to fill paid tutor positions. ​“So it’s honestly very difficult for me to imagine that we are going to recruit hundreds of volunteers,” Miller said. 

When asked by Hill Alder and Finance Committee Vice-Chair Ron Hurt what the $3 million is set to be used for, Okonofua said that money would go towards licensing for student tools and materials, possibly transportation, hiring coordinators, and at-home resources for families. 

“We have to do everything that we can for the kids that need the extra support, and if that means putting $3 million of the ARPA funds then we need to do it,” Walker-Myers said. ​“Because we can’t just sit on the sidelines all the time criticizing and saying people aren’t doing this, people aren’t doing that. At some point we have to help, offer other solutions, and put some money where our mouth is. That’s why I think this is actually a good start. It just needs to be, for me, put together more. I see the value in it, but it needs to be better planned.”

Westville Alder Darryl Brackeen Jr. abstained from voting Wednesday as he currently works as an educator within NHPS. 

Miller also explained that she voted in favor of the proposal thanks in part to the amendment the committee added that requires a new review committee to be created.

Changing Lives, 1 Student At A Time

Organization representatives from New HYTEs, New Haven Reads, and the Boys and Girls club spoke in favor of the plan during the public testimony portion of the meeting. Those who came up to address the alders expressed desires to amp up the academic components of their after-schools programs and get more resources to do so. 

Susan Metrick, who is on New HYTEs’ board of directors, said the organization recently had to waitlist a group of volunteers due to a lack of training resources. She added that without such intervention, a lack of reading and math skills could increase chronic absenteeism for young students. 

Stacy Spell, who has volunteered as a tutor with New Haven Reads for 17 years, testified to encourage the community to step up and volunteer once the program kicks off. His pitch to the community for why to tutor was because there’s no bigger joy than changing a young person’s life. 

Also during the meeting’s public testimony section, Newhallville Community Management Team Chair and Harris & Tucker School head Kim Harris brought along several young students — both so that they could learn how local government works and so they could share their thoughts about the program with the alders. 

One student, a fourth-grader at Lincoln Bassett School, told the committee alders she currently struggles with math, science, reading, and writing in school. 

When asked if any of them would be willing to volunteer once they are of age to help other students learn to read and do math, all of the five students with Harris raised their hands. 

New Haven Reads Executive Director Kirsten Levinsohn also spoke during public comment in support of the $3 million tutoring program. 

She said she is currently tutoring four NHPS students at New Haven Reads. One of those students is in the third grade, and is just now learning how to sound out three-letter words. She added that New Haven Reads has recently had to purchase more kindergarten books to meet the needs of 2nd and 3rd graders who can’t read on grade level. 

Levinsohn said she is confident that with more resources and support from the city and NHPS, getting enough volunteers for the initiative is possible.