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As the unprecedented 2019-20 school year draws to an end, school-system decision-makers are shifting their attention from the initial COVID-19 response to plans for the coming school year. In this challenging process, cost-effectiveness principles and evidence can help weigh which strategies best address learning loss and the needs of students.
Projected economic impacts of COVID-19 on student outcomes is huge. Recent聽聽indicate that student learning loss may be one-third to two-thirds larger than what students normally lose during聽. In addition to learning loss, students are disconnected from the stability of school, peer networks, and access to school-based supports, such as聽,听, and聽. This learning loss affects聽聽more than others, and it has real consequences for both聽聽as well as major economic repercussions for the聽.
Budget cuts make matters even worse, driving up the need to consider cost effectiveness in finding solutions. The severity of budget cuts will become clearer in the coming months, but as聽,听聽are anticipated and will last for the聽聽at least. Simultaneously, there is a growing need for additional resources, in the ballpark of聽, due to students missing over a third of the school year. Furthermore, schools will need to adapt to new social distancing practices as they reopen next year, likely making the demand for funding even more acute.
We need more 鈥渂ang for the buck鈥� than ever. As plans are made for summer and fall 2020, these contrasting issues鈥攆ewer funds available and the concurrent聽聽in need鈥攎ake the stakes for efficient resource allocation even higher than usual. Cost-effectiveness strategies weigh both a program鈥檚 efficacy and its costs to understand its efficiency. By understanding efficiency, scarce resources can be allocated to maximize effective outcomes. Below, we apply these principles to highlight three examples of urgently needed programming. Throughout all three, we emphasize efficiencies through systematic, comprehensive approaches that leverage resources from community partners.
Systematic needs assessment
Efficient resource allocation requires states and districts to identify needs and establish corresponding goals.聽聽within education, across child service sectors, and in partnership with community organizations would ensure coverage without duplicating efforts. Teachers, especially at the elementary grade levels, should be a first source as they can identify student needs observed prior to March and flag students who are not engaging in online instruction. Grades, benchmark assessment data, attendance, discipline, and other existing data can supplement and support teacher reports. Also, parents and caregivers should be surveyed. Many schools have text and email access to parents. Some organizations, like聽, already undertake text survey campaigns and may offer efficiencies through partnerships. Non-digital efforts, such as providing paper surveys to families via meal distribution or other similar efforts, would be warranted to reach families with limited internet access.
Tutoring
We have known since the聽聽that tutoring, by peers especially, offers a cost-effective solution to improving student achievement. More recently, evidence continues to support tutoring through the use of volunteers and AmeriCorps partnerships. For example, effective programs like聽听补苍诲听聽provide direct support to students who are behind grade level, using volunteer labor to increase the resources students receive without requiring large budget increases at the school level.聽聽could be accomplished by hiring trained individuals if volunteers are not available.聽As we plan for the year ahead, it is critical that we leverage all resources available鈥攖hrough peers, community members, parents/caregivers, AmeriCorps, or a federally funded聽鈥攖o support student learning.
Targeted comprehensive supports聽
After assessing the range and magnitude of student need, targeted support can be deployed as soon as this summer. In addition to meeting students鈥� academic needs and addressing learning loss, students also need their comprehensive needs met so that they are able to better access the full value of schooling. These supports focus on students鈥� physical, mental, socio-emotional, nutritional, and behavioral health. Effective programs, like聽, leverage community-based services to聽聽match students to support and to manage their progress and needs over time. The goal of comprehensive support programs is to prevent crises from happening. While we are looking for solutions, implementing systematic support programs and practices now can lead to long-term improvements beyond 2020.
While providing comprehensive support may not be particularly low cost, meeting students鈥� material needs is an essential component in tackling achievement and learning loss.聽Work on the City Connects program found that the returns from targeted, systematic supports were greater than the investment. By comparison, schools that did not take a targeted and systematic approach both spent more on administrative time and connected students with fewer community-based services.
Additionally, other student supports are of increased importance, such as access to聽聽and the internet. Some schools are addressing barriers to meal access and instruction by providing food, devices,听, and materials via聽. We know that the consequences of increased student food insecurity had on students during the Great Recession. Given the larger magnitude of the current economic crisis due to COVID-19, 聽providing students with access to food is a critical component of adequately meeting the聽.
Programming to address student food insecurity may be provided by both the school district and partner organizations鈥攖he key is that schools have a natural connection to students and families and knowledge of their circumstances making this not only an approach to address student learning and development but an approach that is rooted in efficient targeting of supports to those in need. For example, the School District of Philadelphia is聽聽each student鈥檚 household with EBT cards, in addition to meal pick-ups. A聽, the Philadelphia Joint Board, Workers United, is offering students weekly boxes of food through their food bank program. The information about the food bank is shared with families through the schools to ensure that as many students receive support as possible. Programs such as聽听补苍诲听聽are also options to leverage the federal school food programming to increase nutritional support for students.
As decision-makers plan ahead, we recommend considering the evidence available to guide allocation of incredibly limited resources and to leverage additional non-budgetary sources to maximize the supports children receive. With the聽聽for already scarce education dollars and looming budget cuts, cost-effectiveness should serve as an important tool in leveraging resources to efficiently and effectively benefit students.
