Here's how A&M-Kingsville plans to address learning loss in South Texas schools
Texas A&M University-Kingsville is partnering with area school districts to address learning loss and mental health challenges through a U.S. Department of Education program.
The university will use Federal Work-Study funds to sponsor 20 college students who will serve as tutors, mentors and success coaches in Kingsville ISD and Santa Gertrudis ISD in the fall.
University President Robert Vela Jr. said the opportunity is a “win-win.”
“The (K-12) students will see university students and maybe see themselves in that capacity someday,” Vela said. “You’re providing a much-needed service, but you’ve also got university students serving as role models for the students that hopefully they can understand that higher education is possible for themselves.”
In addition to the Federal Work-Study funds, the university is also pitching in $100,000 to ensure every student tutor earns an hourly wage of at least $12.
“We’re trying to incentivize so that they can commit to this program for a good year,” Vela said.
Vela said the university wants work-study programs to be opportunities for students beyond a simple job and that this program could be particularly useful for education students.
“We don’t treat Federal Work-Study as students that are just doing paper-shredding or filing,” Vela said. “They can list this on their resumes for future employment to say they actually did something very special and meaningful.”
The university is one of 26 across the country chosen as an early adopter of the National Partnership for Student Success initiative. Only one other Texas college, Texas A&M University-Central Texas, is participating so far.
The National Partnership for Student Success is a research-based, public-private partnership that helps schools, governments and nonprofits create and improve efforts supporting academic recovery and student well-being after the pandemic.
“We have talented students that are going to step up and do a great thing for their communities,” Vela said.
Existing efforts
The program is similar to another initiative already underway at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. During the spring semester, three university students served as tutors in Brooks County ISD, Ricardo ISD and San Diego ISD to help students close achievement gaps in reading and math.
The program will end in August, but the new National Partnership for Student Success initiative will allow many of the same services to continue, said Daniella Varela, assistant professor in educational leadership and the program's faculty supervisor.
In the summer, six A&M-Kingsville students will focus on districts closer to campus, Kingsville ISD and Santa Gertrudis ISD, as well as potentially Ricardo ISD.
The grant funding the program also helped support school districts to identify the resources they need to make a sustainable system to help students in need of additional assistance and remediation.
“This is really in response to what we know happened as a result of the pandemic and school closures and remote learning,” Varela said.
Varela said that as a result of the pandemic, some students need more intervention or a different delivery method for content.
“Those students are really finding that they lost a lot of time,” Varela said. “They lost opportunities to access the information they needed to stay on target or to keep up with the standards that are expected at grade level.”
In the wake of the pandemic, the state mandated additional academic support and intervention for students who don’t pass state assessments. This includes 30 hours of tutoring.
Varela said that the A&M-Kingsville tutoring efforts are focused on meeting local needs.
“This is really our effort to help schools get back where they need to be, as determined by the state,” Varela said. “We’re working to help schools get there.”
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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: How A&M-Kingsville plans to address learning loss in South Texas schools
