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How Tennessee’s “high-dosage tutoring” is turning the tide on declining school test scores
School test scores have dropped considerably since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. For 4th and 8th graders last year, math scores saw their biggest decline since the first assessments in the 1990s, while reading scores sank to a 30-year low.
In an effort to counteract the negative impacts of the pandemic, hundreds of students at Cane Ridge Elementary in Nashville meet for what’s called “high-dosage tutoring.” Small groups meet three days a week, as early as an hour before school even begins, to combat pandemic learning loss.
“In my view, the kids were at stake and their lives were at stake,” Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee told CBS News.
Lee called a historic legislative session in January 2021, when many students across the country were still attending school virtually, to address his state’s failing test scores.
“It’s kind of one of the redemptive stories of the pandemic, for me is, we implemented things that we weren’t doing before that will produce better outcomes than we had before the pandemic,” Lee said.
By combining federal pandemic relief funds with a grant-matching program, Tennessee was able to pay for three years of tutoring, four years of summer camps and an enhanced literacy program.
English teacher Kelly Koishor has been tutoring three sessions a week since the program started in 2021. She said without the high-dosage tutoring, her students would be “very low academically.”
“They probably would not be ready for middle school,” she told CBS News.
Ruqayah Woods, a 10-year-old student, told CBS News she “got 2 Fs in ELA, but then I fixed those scores and I got Bs and As,” thanks to the tutoring.
Before the pandemic, about one-third of Tennessee third graders were reading at grade level, according to the state’s Education Department. But two years after the intensive tutoring began, statewide test scores among third to eighth graders have increased by more than eight points in English and nearly 10 points in math, according to the Education Department.
“It’s working, and the evidence is showing it. We will likely continue it,” Lee said. “And we hope it’s a model for others.”
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
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A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
CBS Philadelphia
Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.