Community organizations in Dallas are pitching in to help students overcome the learning loss that occurred as a result of the educational disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its corresponding shutdowns.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, a recent nationwide study found that the 2022-2023 school year saw regression compared to the previous year, with math and reading scores faltering among students across the country.
Dallas ISD’s student achievement scores have been treading water, with only 41% of students scoring at grade level on the 2021-2022 STAAR exams and almost 20% of the Class of 2022 failing to graduate in four years, according to the latest Texas Education Agency (TEA) accountability report.
Despite the efforts of the district’s dedicated educators, Dallas ISD earned another round of dismal scores earlier in July after TEA published some STAAR scores from the 2022-2023 school year.
Now, several nonprofits are coming together to help bolster student outcomes ahead of the 2023-2024 school year.
“There’s not one organization that can serve all of these kids, not even the school district,” said Byron Sanders, CEO of the controversial education nonprofit Big Thought, speaking with The Dallas Morning News.
Big Thought teamed up with Dallas City of Learning and other nonprofits to provide educational programming and activities to keep kids engaged with their education over the summer break.
“With us, it’s not that you’re graded on it. It’s: I’m here to help you to learn it,” Thriving Minds site coordinator Brandi Reed told DMN.
Dallas City of Learning maintains boasts some 860 learning opportunities available, including activities and educational programming focused on dance, zoology, mathematics, storytelling, science, and robotics, among other subjects.
Still, it is unclear whether students enrolled at Dallas ISD and other area school systems will be able to recover from the damage done during the COVID-19 pandemic, at least not for some time.
“We’re probably going to be dealing with the echoes of that [pandemic learning loss] for years to come,” Sanders told DMN.