On March 11, 2021, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) into law. Nearly $2 trillion in federal emergency funding will be dedicated to addressing the many impacts of COVID-19 on schools and students in pre-K through 12th grade. ARP ESSER funds will remain available through September 23, 2023, allowing local education agencies (LEAs) to spend these allocations through the end of the 2023‐24 school year.
Among ARP ESSER requirements, several align with what Springboard offers and how we approach programming.
State Education Agencies (SEAs) and Local Education Agency (LEA) requirements:
-State education agencies (SEAs) must subgrant at least 87.5% of their funding to local education agencies (LEAs). From their state set aside, an SEA must set‐aside funds as listed here:
-5% to address learning loss;
-1% for evidence‐based comprehensive afterschool programs;
-1% for evidence‐based summer enrichment; and 2.5% for educational technology.
-Local Education Agencies (LEAs) must use at least 20% of their ARP funds to address learning loss via evidence‐based interventions that focus on students’ academic, social and emotional needs.
-LEAs must conduct activities to address the needs of students from low‐income families, disabled children, English learners, racial and ethnic minorities, students experiencing homelessness, and foster care youth.
How Springboard aligns
Addressing learning loss and intervention, evidence-based summer/after-school programs focusing on students’ academic, social and emotional needs.
In the Overdeck Foundation’s Early Impact Portfolio, an external evaluation of Springboard Collaborative’s summer program, which aims to close the Pre-K through 3rd-grade literacy gap through family engagement, resulted in evidence that meets a Tier 2 rating, meaning the model is now supported by one or more well-designed and well-implemented quasi-experimental studies.
Springboard delivers superior results with remarkable consistency. Throughout our Summer and Afterschool programs, students average a 3-4-month reading gain during each 5 or 10-week cycle, closing the gap to grade-level performance by more than half. Springboard’s weekly family workshops also average 91% attendance. For every hour that a teacher leads a workshop, parents deliver 25 hours of tutoring at home. Moreover, families and teachers build habits that persist over the long term. When parents and teachers collaborate, they can turn the COVID slide into a springboard.
Providing educational technology
Springboard offers educational technology through our home literacy app, Springboard Connect. Our web-based app helps families (Pre-K through 3) build reading habits and achieve their reading goals. Through regular text message updates and reminders (offered in both English and Spanish), Springboard Connect provides targeted guidance based on a child’s grade and reading skills as reported by their family. It also shares effective reading strategies, reminds families to read, and tracks a child’s reading progress.
Addressing the needs of students from low‐income families, disabled children, English learners, racial and ethnic minorities, students experiencing homelessness, and foster care youth.
Throughout all of our programs, Springboard has successfully worked with English-Language students and students with learning differences. Our instructional approach is based on differentiation to meet the needs of all learners. In particular, during Springboard Summer or Afterschool, students receive individualized Student Action Plans, which would align with a student’s IEP if the student has one. This Student Action Plan maps the child’s strengths and provides a plan for improvement for the family. The plan is flexible and could change based on teacher or parent observations around what is or is not working, encouraging family advocacy.
Springboard is accessible for all families regardless of reading level or even language barriers. We provide techniques that can work even for parents who cannot access the text themselves. About 1/3 of the families we work with can’t access the books, whether because of a literacy or language barrier. In these cases, the parent acts as the coach, not the player, by asking questions before, during, and after reading.
Interested in learning how to leverage ARP ESSER funds through a Springboard partnership? Contact Springboard today and our literacy experts will guide you toward a program that best fits your needs!