Sherrill Reintroduces High-Impact Tutoring Bill to Help New Jersey Students Get Ahead
WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Rep. Sherrill reintroduced the bipartisan Expanding Access to High-Impact Tutoring Act. This bill will improve the academic achievement and recovery of students through the creation and administration of high-impact tutoring programs in K-12 schools. The legislation is co-sponsored by Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA-01), David Scott (D-GA-13), and Shri Thanedar (D-MI-13).
The Expanding Access to High-Impact Tutoring Act is the third pillar in Rep. Sherrill’s Expanding Economic Opportunities in New Jersey Agenda, a legislative package she is introducing to create good-paying jobs in the Garden State, boost economic competitiveness and innovation in New Jersey, and support businesses and workers. She previously introduced legislation to expand labor representation on workforce boards and provide tax incentives for the clean up and repurposing of brownfield sites for commercial use and economic development.
“Here in New Jersey, we have some of the best public schools in the nation — but access to a world class education is still all too often determined by zip code. Today, I’m reintroducing my legislation to give schools the resources they need to support all students’ achievement through individualized tutoring. We know that when students have access to consistent one-on-one help, at the same time and with the same tutor every day, students can excel in the classroom,” said Rep. Sherrill. “I’m a mom of four, and I continue to see how the time our kids spent away from in-person learning during the pandemic is impacting their education and mental health. With this legislation, we can combat pandemic-related learning loss while setting our kids up to succeed in the future.”
The Expanding Access to High-Impact Tutoring Act has been endorsed by numerous education and business organizations, including the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association, New Jersey Association of School Administrators, New Jersey Tutoring Corps, Saga Education, New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program, Third Way, Results for America, and America Forward.
“Perhaps the most pivotal key to adult success is an effective education for our children, but children do not learn the same way, at the same speeds, or have the same pathways to resources to support them when they struggle. Creating a federal-level mechanism to expand access to high-impact tutoring will help state-level efforts to provide additional assistance to students, enhancing the learning experiences already available to them in the comprehensive educational programs in New Jersey's excellent schools. NJPSA commends Rep. Mikie Sherrill for continuing to advocate for students and education, not just in New Jersey but across our nation,” said Karen A. Bingert, Executive Director of the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association.
“The support of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators (NJASA) for the Expanding Access to High-Impact Tutoring Act remains undiminished since its first introduction. The proposal provides for grants to State Education Agencies to initiate or expand tutoring programs,” said Richard G. Bozza, Ed.D., Executive Director of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators. “New Jersey education leaders support the initiative of the sponsors who are following the clear evidence that individualized, high-dosage tutoring makes a significant difference in student achievement. Passage of this legislation will bolster New Jersey initiatives in which tutors assist students in overcoming learning loss experienced during the pandemic years of schooling.”
“It says so much to the families of the Garden State that one of Mikie's first priorities in this new Congress is to continue her fight for high-impact tutoring,” said New Jersey Tutoring Corps, Inc. CEO Katherine Bassett. “Mikie's legislation will be a game changer for New Jersey and across the county, ensuring that our local classrooms receive the needed resources, funding, and support to implement high-impact tutoring. In my meetings with Rep. Sherrill, it is clear that she has seen the data, spoken directly to families and superintendents, and is dedicated to doing what is right for our kids. We all know that the return on investment for high-impact tutoring is significant and creates unquestionable generational change, but we need leaders to stand up for what is right. We thank Mikie and her staff for building this bipartisan solution and working so hard to showcase the value in investing in high-impact tutoring.”
“The Expanding Access to High-Impact Tutoring Act is a critical step in scaling proven strategies that ensure every student benefits from targeted, high-quality support. High-impact tutoring not only accelerates student achievement and confidence but also challenges us to think differently about how we deploy human capital to complement the great work of teachers,” said AJ Gutierrez, Co-Founder & Chief Policy and Public Affairs Officer of Saga Education. “As we’ve seen at Saga Education, evidence-based practices are essential to designing programs that address the unique needs of each school district. Tutors play a vital role in helping teachers tackle one of education’s greatest challenges: teaching grade-level content to students with widely varying learning levels. This Act paves the way for more students to receive the support they need to be successful.”
“A strong education system is the bedrock of a strong workforce, and the Expanding Access to High-Impact Tutoring Act provides a crucial investment in our students’ success. High-dosage tutoring has been proven to close learning gaps and set students on a path to greater achievement — benefits that will carry over into their careers and our economy. As we work to bridge the skills gap and equip the next generation with the tools to succeed, this legislation ensures students receive the academic support they need to thrive. NJMEP proudly supports this initiative and commends Representative Sherrill for her leadership in addressing this critical need,” said Peter Connolly, CEO of the New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program.
“As schools and states nationwide confront pandemic learning loss, they need the resources to implement evidence-based solutions that will help students thrive in school and build skills for their future careers,” said Michelle Dimino, Director of Education at Third Way. “The Expanding Access to High-Impact Tutoring Act will ensure more students can benefit from effective tutoring practices proven to improve academic outcomes, and Third Way applauds the re-introduction of this important legislation.”
“At Results for America, we’ve witnessed firsthand the tremendous positive impact that evidence-based models like high-impact tutoring can have on the lives of students and their families,” said Michele Jolin, CEO of Results for America. “The Expanding Access to High-Impact Tutoring Act is rooted in years of data and evidence that show how, on average, access to these programs increases academic achievement by 3 to 15 months of learning across all grade levels. Congress has an opportunity to expand and deliver these kinds of results to millions more students across the country, and we applaud Rep. Sherrill for her leadership in shifting federal dollars toward solutions that work.”
Individualized, high-dosage tutoring programs have consistently been found by high-quality evaluations to be among the largest impact educational interventions available to students, parents, and teachers. A 2020 evidence review examined 96 studies of different tutoring programs and concluded that tutoring is “one of the most versatile and potentially transformative educational tools in use today,” with a 2017 literature review finding similarly outsized impacts of tutoring on student achievement and test scores. A 2021 study of a tutoring program for 9th and 10th graders in Chicago estimated a benefit-cost ratio of the program of over 5-to-1 from large income gains once students reached adulthood, comparable to the impact of many successful early-childhood programs.
The Expanding Access to High-Impact Tutoring Act provides grant funding to States to implement, administer, and evaluate programs in K-12 school districts that provide intensive, high-dosage tutoring to students, and also provides funding for the Department of Education and States to develop a nationwide tutoring workforce.
Sherrill has long been a leader in supporting New Jersey’s education system and protecting our children and teens. As a former member of the House Education and Labor Committee, she fought hard to support the American Rescue Plan, which helped our students return to the classroom and is continuing to fund tutoring initiatives across New Jersey. Additionally, she is fighting to hold social media companies accountable through her advocacy for the Kids Online Safety Act and the Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act.
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