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In December, IBJ published Claire Fiddian-Green’s thoughtful analysis of the potential short-term and long-term effect—and threat—of COVID-19 on our education system. Specifically, as president and CEO of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation, Fiddian-Green sounded the alarm of “early signs pointing to worrisome ‘learning loss’ that could have negative consequences for years to come.”
Learning loss, also known as “summer slide,” has been well-researched for decades. Before COVID-19, far too many students, especially those from low-income households and children of color, experienced a decline in their academic skills over the long summer break. These declines, most notably in math and reading skills, place these children further behind their peers at the start of the next school year. To bridge these learning gaps from year to year, the solution was to make curriculum-based summer programming financially accessible to children who needed it.
Today, our students are experiencing unprecedented lost learning opportunities as a result of the pandemic. This requires an immediate, scalable solution beyond traditional summer programming. Experts predict these major disruptions to traditional classroom experiences have already equated to at least nine months of learning loss for Latino students, 10 months for Black students, and an entire year of loss for low-income students. This will have a major effect on long-term health, education attainment and economic mobility of Hoosier children.
We must have a response. Our dedicated school administrators, teachers and staff are still dealing with the transitions between in-person and virtual learning and have little incremental capacity to tackle this enormous issue alone. We must unite our education, public and private sectors like never before to solve the problem.
The Mind Trust and United Way of Central Indiana announced on Jan. 19 that each is investing $250,000 to plan and develop a community-wide summer learning initiative for Marion County. The goal is simple: Make high-quality summer learning opportunities inside and outside of school settings available to students with the highest need at no-cost to families. Partnerships with Indianapolis Public Schools, township school districts, youth-serving organizations and higher education institutions are vital to making this program work.
To add to the mix, we’re very encouraged by the introduction of House Bill 1008 in this year’s Indiana legislative session that would establish a $150 million fund, administered by the Indiana Department of Education, to provide resources to communities to combat learning loss throughout the state.
In short, there is no way for our Hoosier communities to adequately alleviate learning loss without every sector working together. State funding will be key to addressing this issue at scale.
The momentum to help our community rebound and recover is building. As longtime advocates for quality education as a means to opportunity and a path out of poverty, United Way and The Mind Trust are proud to heed the call, rally more support, partner with school districts and youth-serving organizations, work alongside lawmakers, and, most important, help students get ahead in school.
Every child should have access to a high-quality education, regardless of race, income level or ZIP code, even during the summer months. Let’s work together to give our city’s most marginalized children an advantage they deserve.•
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Murtlow is president and CEO of United Way of Central Indiana. Brown is CEO of The Mind Trust.
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