An Investigation of Academic Recovery as a Response to Covid-19 Learning Loss in Atlanta Public Schools: Recommendations for Academic Recovery Redesign to Mitigate Disproportionality
Proctor, Jarrett
Gay, Yozmin
:
2023-05
Abstract
The US Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Schools awarded grants to state educational agencies (SEAs) for the purpose of providing local educational agencies (LEAs) with emergency relief funds to address the impact that COVID-19 has had and continues to have on teaching and learning within elementary and secondary schools. Like many local school districts around the nation, Atlanta Public schools (APS) used these funds to design academic recovery programs during and after the regular school schedule targeting their lowest-performing students. Atlanta Public Schools’ first Academic Recovery Academy Summer program (ARA) launched in the summer of 2021 and again in the summer of 2022; however, the program has not been evaluated for effectiveness on student academic recovery. Our clients, APS’ Office of Research and Evaluation, wanted us to address this problem of practice by investigating teacher and school leader perceptions of ARA program attributes and whether these attributes made an impact on student academic recovery. The outcome of this investigation will help our clients better understand if the ARA program achieved its goals and inform the strategic planning of the 2023 summer ARA program. Our problem of practice led us to the following research questions to guide our investigation:
Q1: How did principals and teachers experience the Academic Recovery Academy?
Q2: What is the relationship between teacher and principal perception on ARA attributes and student growth in reading and math?
To answer these research questions, we analyzed principals’ and teachers’ survey responses who participated in the ARA program to gather their perspectives on ARA program attributes. In addition, we analyzed the relationships between principal and teacher perspectives and student MAP data to identify which ARA program attributes had an impact on student growth. We found:
1. Teachers and leaders strongly believed that clear goals and supportive leadership were evident throughout ARA.
2. Teachers and leaders rated student resources as the lowest area of agreement yielding the lowest mean when compared to other survey items.
3. ARA’s teacher and leader perceptions of accomplishing ARA goals and student resources may have contributed to ARA student growth in reading.
4. Although principals and teachers believed that resources were beneficial to ARA students, inconsistencies with the resources may have made a negative impact on ARA student growth in math.
5. Most teachers and half of the administrators surveyed reported the use of culturally relevant strategies throughout ARA.
Our key findings led us to the following literature supported recommendations for the district and program leaders:
a) sustain ARA leadership practices,
b) improve student supports (operational supports, instructional materials, and attendance policies),
c) establish an evaluation/monitoring plan, and
d) incorporate culturally, linguistically, and sustaining pedagogy into the ARA curriculum
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