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The Hawaii Department of Education plans to offer individual tutoring, academic coaching and summer school counseling to help struggling students amid the coronavirus crisis with the latest round of federal funding received through the American Rescue Plan.
These details are included in Hawaii’s plan for $412 million in COVID-19 relief through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, which would distribute a total of $122 billion to 50 states and the District of Columbia to address students’ academic, social and emotional needs due to the disruptions of the pandemic.
Interim Superintendent Keith Hayashi said federal funds doled out to Hawaii throughout the pandemic have provided “a degree of certainty in very uncertain times.”
“We are committed to using these resources to, in turn, invest in our students and their futures,” he said in a statement.
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The DOE specified a three-pronged strategy that rests on addressing academic impacts due to the loss of in-person instruction, tending to social and emotional needs from prolonged campus closures and mitigating COVID-19 spread on campuses.
“They listed some stuff that would be pretty impactful, like high dosage tutoring that is responsive to family schedules, extended learning and academic coaching,” said David Miyashiro, executive director of HawaiiKidsCAN.
“But how they’re going to do that — that’s what’s going to make or break it,” he added. “What does that look like? Will campuses be open late or go into the evening time?”