[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
BACK TO SCHOOL: MEETING STUDENTS'
ACADEMIC, SOCIAL, AND EMOTIONAL NEEDS
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON EARLY CHILDHOOD,
ELEMENTARY, AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, SEPTEMBER 20, 2022
__________
Serial No. 117-57
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Education and Labor
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via: edworkforce.house.gov or www.govinfo.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
59-789 PDF WASHINGTON : 2025
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR
ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia, Chairman
RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina,
JOE COURTNEY, Connecticut Ranking Member
GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN, JOE WILSON, South Carolina
Northern Marina Islands GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania
FREDERICA WILSON, Florida TIM WALBERG, Michigan
SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin
MARK TAKANO, California ELISE M. STEFANIK, New York
ALMA S. ADAMS, North Carolina RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia
MARK DeSAULNIER, California JIM BANKS, Indiana
DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey JAMES COMER, Kentucky
PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington RUSS FULCHER, Idaho
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania FRED KELLER, Pennsylvania
LUCY McBATH, Georgia MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS, Iowa
JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut BURGESS OWENS, Utah
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan, Vice Chairman BOB GOOD, Virginia
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota LISA McCLAIN, Michigan
HALEY M. STEVENS, Michigan DIANA HARSHBARGER, Tennessee
TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, New Mexico MARY MILLER, Illinios
MONDAIRE JONES, New York VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
KATHY MANNING, North Carolina SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin
FRANK J. MRVAN, Indiana MADISON CAWTHORN, North Carolina
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York MICHELLE STEEL, California
SHEILA CHERFILUS-McCORMICK, Florida CHRIS JACOBS, New York
MARK POCAN, Wisconsin BRAD FINSTAD, Minnesota
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas JOSEPH SEMPOLINSKI, New York
MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey
ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York
KWEISI MFUME, Maryland
Veronique Pluviose, Staff Director
Cyrus Artz, Minority Staff Director
------
SUBCOMMITTEE ON EARLY CHILDHOOD, ELEMENTARY, AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN, Northern Mariana Islands, Chairman
JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut BURGESS OWENS, Utah,
RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona Ranking Member
FREDERICA WILSON, Florida GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin
MARK DeSAULNIER, California RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia
LUCY McBATH, Georgia FRED KELLER, Pennsylvania
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan MARY MILLER, Illinios
KATHY MANNING, North Carolina MADISON CAWTHORN, North Carolina
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York MICHELLE STEEL, California
SHEILA CHERFILUS-McCORMICK, Florida CHRIS JACOBS, New York
ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia JOSEPH SEMPOLINSKI, New York
VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina (Ex
Officio)
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held on September 20, 2022............................... 1
OPENING STATEMENTS
Sablan, Hon. Gregorio Kilili Camacho, Chairman, Subcommittee
on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.... 1
Prepared statement of.................................... 5
Owens, Hon. Burgess, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Early
Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education............. 6
Prepared statement of.................................... 9
WITNESSES
Jordan, Phyllis, Associate Director, FutureEd................ 12
Prepared statement of.................................... 15
Samuel, Dr. Aaliyah, President and CEO, CASEL................ 27
Prepared statement of.................................... 29
Schwinn, Dr. Penny, Commissioner of Education, Tennessee
Department of Education.................................... 54
Prepared statement of.................................... 56
Blomstedt, Dr. Matthew, Commissioner of Education, Nebraska
Department of Education.................................... 64
Prepared statement of.................................... 67
ADDITIONAL SUBMISSIONS
Chairman Sablan:
Letter dated September 19, 2022, from the National
Association of School Psychologists (NASP)............. 105
Congressional Record Submission from Bibb Hubbard........ 110
QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD
Responses to questions submitted for the record by:
Dr. Matthew L. Blomstedt................................. 112
Ms. Phyllis Jordan....................................... 117
Dr. Aaliyah A. Samuel.................................... 127
Dr. Penny Schwinn........................................ 132
BACK TO SCHOOL: MEETING STUDENTS'
ACADEMIC, SOCIAL, AND EMOTIONAL NEEDS
----------
Wednesday, September 20, 2022
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and
Secondary Education,
Committee on Education and Labor,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:16 a.m.,
2175 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Gregorio Kilili
Camacho Sablan (Chairman of the Subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Representatives Sablan, Hayes, Grijalva, Wilson,
DeSaulnier, McBath, Levin, Manning, Bowman, Cherfilus-
McCormick, Scott (Ex Officio), Owens, Grothman, Allen, Keller,
Miller, Cawthorn, Steel, Sempolinski, and Foxx (Ex Officio).
Also present: Bonamici.
Staff present: Brittany Alston, Operations Assistant;
Melissa Bellin, Professional Staff; Rashage Green, Director of
Education Policy; Christian Haines, General Counsel; Rasheedah
Hasan, Chief Clerk; Sheila Havenner, Director of Information
Technology; Emily Hopkins, Fellow; Stephanie Lalle,
Communications Director; Aileen Ma, Professional Staff; Kota
Mizutani, Deputy Communications Director; Max Moore, Policy
Associate; Kayla Pennebacker, Policy Associate; Veronique
Pluviose, Staff Director; Manasi Raveendran, Oversight Counsel;
Dhrtvan Sherman, Staff Assistant; Banyon Vassar, Deputy
Director of Information Technology; Sam Varie, Press Secretary;
ArRone Washington, Clerk and Special Assistant to the Staff
Director; Cyrus Artz, Minority Staff Director; Caitlin Burke,
Minority Professional Staff Member; Cate Dillon, Minority
Director of Operations; Amy Raaf Jones, Minority Director of
Education and Human Resources Policy; Hannah Matesic, Minority
Director of Member Services and Coalitions; Audra McGeorge,
Minority Communications Director; Eli Mitchell, Minority
Legislative Assistant; Gabriella Pistone, Minority Staff
Assistant; Katy Roberts, Minority Staff Assistant; Mandy
Schaumberg, Minority Chief Counsel and Deputy Director of
Education Policy; and Brad Thomas, Minority Senior Education
Policy Advisor.
Chairman Sablan. The Subcommittee on Early Childhood
Elementary and Secondary Education will come to order. Welcome
everyone. I note that a quorum is present. I note for the
subcommittee that Ms. Bonamici of Oregon, or Mr. Bowman of
Colorado is permitted to participate. Oh, and Ms. Bonamici of
Oregon is permitted to participate in today's hearing with the
understanding that her questions will come only after all
members of the Early Childhood Elementary and Secondary
Education Subcommittee on both sides of the aisle who are
present have had an opportunity to question the witnesses.
If the Chair needs to step away for any reason, the
gentleman from Colorado, Mr. Bowman, will sit and assume the
Chair of the hearing until I return, or some other arrangement
is made. The subcommittee is meeting today to hear testimony on
Back to School: Meeting Students' Academic, Social, and
Emotional Needs.
This is a hybrid hearing pursuant to House Resolution 8 and
the regulations thereto. All microphones, both in the room and
on the platform, will be kept muted as a general rule to avoid
unnecessary background noise. Members and witnesses will be
responsible for unmuting themselves when they are recognized to
speak, or when they wish to seek recognition.
When members wish to speak or seek recognition they should
unmute themselves and allow for a pause of 2 seconds to ensure
the microphone picks up their speech. I also ask that members
please identify themselves before they speak. Members who are
participating in person should not be logged into the remote
platform in order to avoid feedback, echoes, and distortion.
Members participating remotely shall be considered present
in the proceeding when they are visible on camera, and they
should be considered not present when they are not visible on
camera. The only exception to this is if they are experiencing
technical difficulty, and inform the Committee staff of such
difficulty.
If any member experiences technical difficulty during the
hearing, you should stay connected on the platform. Make sure
you are muted, and use your phone to immediately contact the
committee's IT director whose number was provided in advance.
Should the Chair need to step away again for any reason,
Mr. Bowman, or another majority member is hereby authorized to
assume the gavel in the Chair's absence.
In order to ensure that the committee's 5-minute rule is
adhered to, staff will be keeping track of time using the
committee's digital timer on the remote platform. For members
participating in person the timer will be broadcast in the
Committee Room on the television monitors as part of the
platform gallery view, and visible in its own thumbnail window.
The Committee Room timer will not be in use. For members
participating remotely this will be visible in gallery view in
its own thumbnail window on the remote platform. Members are
asked to wrap up promptly when their time has expired.
Finally, while the recent items from the Office of
Attending Physician has made mask wearing optional at this
time, please note that we have in our midst, at both member and
staff levels, individuals who are immunocompromised and/or who
have immediate family members who are immunocompromised as
well, as who are not vaccinated either due to medical reasons,
or because the vaccine is not yet available to children under 6
months of age.
Therefore, the committee strongly recommends that masks
continue to be worn out of this concern for the safety of the
unvaccinated, and immunocompromised committee members, staff,
and their families.
Now that is the admin part of the logistics and
housekeeping, so pursuant to Committee Rule 8(c), opening
statements are limited to the Chair and the Ranking Member.
This allows us to hear from our witnesses sooner and provides
all members with adequate time to ask questions.
I recognize myself now for the purpose of making an opening
statement. As students across the Nation, the country returned
to the classroom for the 2022-2023 school year. The committee
is meeting today to discuss how our Nation's schools are
helping students get back on track academically and meet their
social and emotional needs.
The pandemic underscores how important schools are to our
Nation's children, families and communities. While the initial
shift to online learning certainly saved lives, not being in
the classroom impeded students' social and emotional
development and disrupted the stability that helps young people
thrive.
That is why Democrats have been focused on providing key
resources for students and educators so they could return to
the classroom safely. Safely, that is a key word here. Thanks
to President Biden's American Rescue Plan, nearly all public K
to 12 schools in the Nation are now open for in person
learning. We know students and educators lost ground however,
academically, as evidenced by the most recent data from the
National Assessments of Educational Progress, and in terms of
social and emotional learning.
That is why the American Rescue Plan requires the school
districts target 20 percent of funding toward addressing
learning loss using evidence-based interventions, and folks and
those students who are most impacted by the pandemic. We now
have data from a national survey of more than 800 public
schools conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, that
shows 98 percent of those schools are implementing learning
recovery programs like tutoring and remedial instruction.
Over 70 percent of those schools have shored up mental
health supports. Let me give you a few examples. In Virginia, a
school district is using its Rescue Plan money to hire more
tutors to help close achievement gaps. In Connecticut, a school
district created a parent academy program to connect parents
with their children's education.
In Ohio, a school district used Rescue Plan funding to
create a Family Resource Center, a one stop shop that connects
families to mental health resources and support services. In
North Carolina, a school district was able to bring in more
mental health counselors, and in my district in Northern
Marianas Islands, schools use the American Rescue Plan funding
for a summer learning program and hired more teachers to work
the students who need the additional steps, support.
Importantly, these programs are already showing signs of
success. Research estimates that high dosage tutoring three
times a week for a year can help students gain 19 weeks in
instructional time, that a double dose of math each day for a
year can produce 10 weeks of gains, and that summer learning
can help students gain the equivalent of five more weeks.
Additionally, the research shows that social and emotional
learning programs can significantly improve student achievement
performance and social behaviors while also lowering levels of
distress. Simply put, Democrats have helped states and school
districts to invest in evidence-based programs that can help
students get back on track.
Let us compare this with my colleagues' response to the
pandemic. While Democrats are focused on getting students back
to school safely, safely, Republican politicians wanted
students in schools regardless of whether it was safe or not,
and then we will have the I told you so back then.
While Democrats delivered historic funding to help schools
manage the fallout of the pandemic, every Republican member
voted against the American Rescue Plan. Now as Democrats
continue to focus on making up for lost instructional time,
Republican politicians are politicizing our classrooms and
attacking teachers.
Now that is wrong. We need to stay focused on getting
students back to where they would have been if the pandemic had
not gotten in the way, and we need to stay focused on
delivering sustained funding to K to 12 schools, particularly
in communities with the greatest need over the long term.
Whatever your politics, surely we can all agree our Nation
needs its citizens to be well educated during times of
emergency and at all times. Finally, I want to conclude with a
thank you to teachers across the Nation, including in my far
district of the Northern Marianas 14 hours ahead of us. Thank
you as you begin your new school year. Thank you for devoting
yourselves to the well-being of our Nation's students.
Your commitment to your students is a lesson to us all, and
we are working to make sure you have the resources you need to
help your students and their families succeed. I now turn to
the Ranking Member Mr. Owens of Utah, for the purpose of making
an opening statement.
Mr. Owens, sir.
[The statement of Chairman Sablan follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Owens. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The near total shutdown
of schools at the beginning of COVID pandemic caused historic
disruptions in K through 12 education and beyond. At their peak
these closures affected 97 percent of K through 12 students, or
approximately 55 million students. It was obvious in the
beginning that children were suffering from shuttered
classrooms.
Despite this, many school districts prolonged school
shutdowns, some for months, and some for over a year. Other
districts waffled back and forth between the two, causing mass
uncertainty for educators, students and parents.
Other students have faced continued disruptions to their
learning due to the restrictive quarantine regulations, or
stringent masking and vaccine requirements. A majority of the
students forced into online education fell behind
significantly.
According to the most recent national assessment of
educational progress report, the average scores for 9-year-olds
in 2022, declined 5 points in reading, and 7 points in
mathematics, compared to 2020.
This is the biggest drop in reading scores since 1990, and
the first ever drop in math. Other analysis found that on the
average students were 5 months behind in math, 4 months behind
in reading by the end of 2020-2021 academic year. Students kept
out of school even longer are faring worse. The numbers are
also worse for historically disadvantaged communities.
School closures did not only affect students, but also left
high schoolers more likely not to graduate or pursue college.
These closures did not only affect academic performance, many
adolescents also faced immense emotional and mental trauma,
during the pandemic due to forced socialized isolation.
Three major pediatric organizations last fall declared
adolescents' mental health as a national emergency. To help
schools reopen they were given exorbitant amounts of COVID-19
funding, with zero accountability measures in place to ensure
these taxpayer dollars were spent appropriately.
Through ESSER alone, states were given 190 billion dollars
to help schools open safely. On top of this, the science and
data from schools had reportedly shown that schools were not
the major vector for spread, and few children were at risk of
serious illness from COVID-19.
Even the Washington Post ran a headline November 20, 2020,
saying that schools are not spreading COVID-19. The Atlantic
ran this headline in October 2020, ``Schools aren't super
spreaders. Fears in the summer appears to have been
overblown.'' Keep in mind these articles were posted at the end
of 2020, eight or 9 months after the beginning of school
closures.
Many schools did not open. We now know this is because
immense pressure placed on school boards, school
administrators, local politicians, the Biden Administration,
and even the Centers of Disease, Control and Prevention by
powerful teacher unions.
If it was not obvious before it is obvious now, teachers
unions have an outsized and unhealthy influence of K through 12
education. Multiple studies suggest that union influence
affected school operating decisions more than COVID-19
inflection rates. This proves that teachers unions are
motivated by politics, not science, and definitely not for the
interests of our students and their education.
A Los Angeles teachers union for instance, used the
pandemic as an opportunity to push for radical social change.
Reports from around the world continue to mount about the
dangers of our children's mental health and learning loss.
Instead of addressing these issues, our children are used as
hostages.
As the teacher unions demand Medicare for all, outlawing
charter schools and defunding the police. Other teachers unions
also made demands, and when these demands were met they moved
the goalpost. For example, even after teachers were pushed to
the front of the vaccine line, many unions decided to still not
reopen schools.
Despite this havoc that they wreaked on our educational
system, teachers unions have faced no consequence of their
actions, nor have the school district officials, or democratic
politicians who let them run the show. Republicans are
demanding accountability. Republicans also are demanding
answers on how schools have been spending the ESSER funds.
Republicans are as patient after the bipartisan second
round of COVID relief in December 2022, but the Democrats
ignored these warnings, and forged ahead with another 120
billion dollars. As a result, we now have some schools who have
wasted these funds, rather than to improve athletic facilities
or by critical race theory consultants to their schools.
Congress's allocation of emergency pandemic relief was so
excessive that the Wall Street Journal editorialized,
``Democrats are using the banner of COVID relief not to
increase student learning, but to reward democratic
constituency at taxpayer's expense.''
While Democrats' opposition to the American Rescue Plan has
proven correct, we also believe these funds should be used to
address students learning loss now that they have been
appropriated.
States like Tennessee are leading the way by using taxpayer
dollars to address these learning losses that students have
experienced. This is an example we should follow. Pandemic
policies have failed our students. We must do all we can to
right this situation and put our students back on track to
success. Thank you and I yield back.
[The statement of Ranking Member Owens follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Sablan. All right, thank you. Thank you very much,
Mr. Owens. Without objection, all other members who wish to
insert written statements into the record may do so by
submitting them to the Committee Clerk electronically in
Microsoft Word format by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, October--no, it
cannot be. The date, oh yes, October 4, yes that is right.
I will now introduce our witnesses, and good morning
everyone. I would like to welcome Ms. Phyllis Jordan, who is an
Associate Director of FutureEd, a nonpartisan educational think
tank at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public
Policy. Ms. Jordan has researched and written extensively about
COVID relief spending, evidence-based practices, and student
absenteeism.
Before working in the education policy, Jordan served in
senior editing positions at the Los Angeles Times and the
Washington Post, where she edited the newspaper's education
coverage. Ms. Jordan holds a Master's degree in Journalism from
the University of Missouri and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate
from Sweet Briar College. Welcome Ms. Jordan.
Dr. Aaliyah Samuel, I got that right? Thank you, thank you
Doctor, is President and CEO of CASEL, the Collaborative for
Academic Social and Emotional learning, CASEL, and Senior
Fellow of the Harvard University Center on the Developing
Child.
Dr. Samuel previously served as a Deputy Assistant
Secretary, local, State and national engagement at the Youth
Department of Education.
She holds an undergraduate degree from Tuskegee University,
a Master's from the University of Southern Florida, and a
Specialist and Doctorate Degree from NOVA Southeastern. Welcome
Dr. Again. Thank you for joining us.
Dr. Penny Schwinn, served as Commissioner of the Tennessee
Department of Education since February 2019, when she was
selected by Governor Bill Lee. As Commissioner, Dr. Schwinn
focuses on accelerating growth through excellence in
achievement, empowerment of students and teachers, and
engagement of stakeholders.
Prior to serving as Commissioner, Dr. Schwinn served as
Chief Deputy Commissioner of Academics at Texas Education
Agency. Dr. Schwinn holds a bachelor's degree from the
University of California Berkeley, a Master of Arts from John
Hopkins University, and a Ph.D. in education policy from
Claremont Graduate University in California. Welcome Dr.
Schwinn. Thank you for joining us.
Dr. Matthew Blomstedt was named Commissioner of Education
by the Nebraska State Board of Education and began serving as
Commissioner on January 2, 2014. Dr. Blomstedt led the
successful development and implementation of a comprehensive
State accountability system under the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act,
ESSA.
He was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Council
of Chief State of School Officers in December 2017, and
currently serves as the past President. Dr. Blomstedt earned a
Ph.D. in educational leadership and higher education, and a
master's degree in community and regional planning from the
University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Welcome Dr. Blomstedt.
We appreciate the witnesses for participating today and
look forward to your testimony. Let me remind the witnesses
that we have read your written testimony statements, and they
will appear in full in the hearing record. Pursuant to
Committee Rule 8(d) and the committee practice, each of you is
asked to limit your oral presentation to a 5-minute summary of
your written statement.
Before you begin your testimony, please remember to unmute
your microphone. During your testimony staff will be keeping
track of time, and a light will blink when time is up. You have
to keep your eye on the timer, whether it is on the platform or
in the Committee Room on the screen.
Please be attentive to the time, wrap up when your time is
over, and remute your microphone. Hold on John, let me take
this off, because apparently you are taking my picture. Thank
you. If any of you experience technical difficulty during your
testimony, or later in the hearing, you should stay connected
on the platform.
Make sure you are muted and use your phone to immediately
call the committee's IT director whose number again was
provided to you in advance. We will let all of the witnesses
make their presentations before we move to member questions.
When answering a question please remember to unmute your
microphone. The witnesses are aware of their responsibility to
provide accurate information to the subcommittee, and therefore
we will proceed with their testimony. I would like to first
recognize Ms. Jordan. Ms. Jordan, please you have 5 minutes,
thank you.
STATEMENT OF MS. PHYLLIS JORDAN, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, FUTUREED
Ms. Jordan. Can you hear me, yes. Thank you very much
Chairman Sablan, and Ranking Member Owens, and members of the
committee. I am really pleased to be here to testify today. My
name is Phillis Jordan. I am Associate Director at FutureEd,
which as the Chairman said is a non-profit think tank at
Georgetown, and non-partisan, and led by Thomas Tuck.
As you both stated, the impact of the pandemic on learning
is clear. Test after test shows that students have lost or are
falling behind where they should be at this point. Declines are
greatest for students who are already struggling in school, and
those from low-income families, so this is widening achievement
gaps.
Beyond the academic indicators, we saw absenteeism rise and
student engagement fall. Teachers are stressed out, and they
are stretched thin. There are three questions we need to answer
about the money that Congress has appropriated to help states
and school districts address these challenges.
First, is how are they planning to use the unprecedented
infusion of Federal money to address learning loss? Second, are
they spending it effectively? Third, and probably most
important, what will the impact be on student achievement?
To help answer these questions, FutureEd analyzed trends in
extra spending plans for 5,000 school districts educating 74
percent of the Nation's students. Our analysis suggests that at
this stage educational leaders are taking the steps they need
to help students gain ground. A substantial body of research
points to interventions that can accelerate learning in the
months and years ahead.
We have seen these strategies in many spending plans. For
instance, about 60 percent of the local spending plans
designate money to extend student's learning time into summer,
after school, or both, with about 3.7 billion to be spent in
those categories. That number could reach 6.3 billion if trends
continue through September 2024.
Tutoring is another smart evidence-based strategy. About a
third of districts are putting money toward tutoring and
coaching, mostly for math and reading. Investment we expect to
reach 3 billion nationwide. Based on what we have seen in these
plans, we project that local agencies will spend more than 27
billion of the ESSER III money on academic recovery
interventions by September 2024.
We project they will spend another 30 billion on teachers
and staff, much of which is going to learning loss priorities
like academic coaching, and reducing class sizes. We estimate
26 billion will go toward school facilities and operations,
particularly ventilation upgrades.
Taken together, these priorities account for about 75
percent of local education agencies designated ESSER III
spending, with technology and physical and mental health
rounding out the total. The local investments come on top of
requirements for states to collectively spend at least 1.2
billion in ESSER funds for summer learning, 1.2 billion for
after school, and 6 billion more for addressing learning loss.
We broke down the spending by school district poverty
rates, and we found that places with more students in poverty
are prioritizing academic recovery spending for instructional
materials, like textbooks and new curriculum, while the more
affluent districts are focused more on after school programming
and summer learning.
Likewise, we found rural districts were more likely to
invest in instructional materials, and less likely to spend on
extended time than their city and suburban counterparts were.
When we looked at State partisan lean, we found that nearly the
same percentages of districts in red and blue states earmarked
ESSER III funds for social and emotional learning.
Both have made hiring and rewarding teachers their top
priority, and they plan to spend on similar rates on tutoring.
In terms of how the spending is going, the latest data suggests
that districts have spent almost all the money allotted in the
CARES Act, which must be obligated by the end of this month.
They are well into investing the second round of ESSER, but
most have not spent much of ARP money. A few things to keep in
mind here. Reporting lags behind actual spending, so do
district requests for reimbursement from State education
agencies, and spending totals do not reflect what is committed
for the years ahead.
Another challenge is that many districts cannot find the
people they want to hire. The pandemic has exacerbated long-
standing shortages and critical teaching areas like special ed,
science and math, and with many districts hiring more teachers
and specialists, there are simply more positions to fill.
This is true for tutoring and extended time programs too.
At the same time, we are seeing several encouraging trends.
First, the infusion of COVID relief dollars has supercharged
efforts to train teachers in a phonics-based approach to
teaching reading. Second, post-pandemic shortages and Federal
funding have led more districts to break away from a single
teacher pay scale and target dollars for hard to fill slots.
Third, several states and school districts are developing
permanent tutoring infrastructures that can add an important
instructional component. Fourth, schools are bringing in mental
health professionals, and training teachers in social,
emotional learning to help students navigate their emotions and
relationships, a long overdue recognition that emotional--I am
almost done, that emotional learning plays an important role.
Finally, State and districts are using ESSER money to
commission research to determine what is working, and spread
best practices and guide post-pandemic educational investments.
Thank you for the opportunity to share FutureEd's research.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Jordan follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Sablan. Yes, well thank you very much. Thank you,
Ms. Jordan. We will now like to hear from Dr. Samuel please,
Dr. Samuel, you have 5 minutes. Do you see a timer on your
screen? Okay. Thank you, 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF DR. AALIYAH SAMUEL, PRESIDENT AND CEO,
COLLABORATIVE FOR ACADEMIC, SOCIAL, AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING
Ms. Samuel. Chairman Sablan, Ranking Member Burgess,
members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to
testify. I am Dr. Aaliyah A. Samuel, the President and CEO of
the non-partisan, non-profit Collaborative for Academic,
Social, and Emotional Learning, also known as CASEL.
I am a former principal, teacher, and a mother of two
public school children. These experiences have put me to speak
first-hand to the urgent need for social and emotional
learning, to support children's academic recovery, and well-
being during this critical time.
At CASEL our mission is to make evidence-based social and
emotional learning part of a high-quality education from
preschool through high school. I also want to underscore
CASEL's commitment to academic learning, which is the utmost
priority. Social and emotional learning creates the conditions
necessary for learning, and decades of research shows that it
improves academic achievement, mental wellness, school safety,
and healthy behaviors.
Our review of 213 studies found that social and emotional
learning increased reading and math scores by 11 percentile
points, and independent studies have been repeatedly
replicating similar findings. Another recent study found that
social and emotional learning reduces symptoms of depression
and anxiety, which so many of our young people are reporting.
Students, parents and educators recognize these benefits.
This school year a survey of district leaders showed that
social and emotional learning is a top priority. 80 percent of
parents want schools to continue or expand teaching of social
and emotional learning. 84 percent of teachers say it is more
important than ever before.
A majority of high school students believe that going to a
school focused on social and emotional learning helps them
learn academic material. Employer surveys also confirm that
strong social and emotional skills are essential to career
success. The bottom line, there is a strong evidence and demand
for social and emotional learning.
We are grateful to Chairman Sablan and this subcommittee
for the support provided for evidence-based social and
emotional learning, including the passage of the American
Rescue Plan Act, and the Fiscal Year 2022 omnibus. Thanks to
these efforts, districts and states have been able to invest in
social and emotional learning.
Despite broad community support, misleading claims and
false information is spreading. We have heard from parents and
educators across the country who value social and emotional
learning but are being stifled by special interest groups often
from outside of their communities attempting to counter local
control.
We cannot let political posturing silence the voices of
parents and educators who recognize the benefit of social and
emotional learning for their children. Social and emotional
learning is a process of developing valuable life skills,
including understanding and managing emotions. Developing
empathy, building relationships, and making responsible
decisions.
These are skills our children need to succeed in their
careers and navigate a complex changing society. Rather than a
one size fits all approach, CASEL encourages families and
schools to work in partnership to find high quality programs
and approaches that match their local priorities.
Many parents and schools have turned to social and
emotional learning to make sure that every child is seen,
valued and motivated, so that they can learn. In the words of
the late researcher Dr. Roger P. Weisberg, while abundant data
provide a firm analytical rebuttal to those who question the
need for social and emotional learning, or its effectiveness,
we should always remember that this movement is all about
individual children whose lives hang in the balance behind the
datapoints, waiting for us to open the gates to successful
learning.
I want to say unequivocally that politicizing social and
emotional learning, risks what parents and educators know is
best for children, what research has shown to be effective, and
what the vast majority of parents, educators, and students want
in their local schools.
Attempts to stifle social emotional learning impair the
quality of education that educators can provide in the
classroom, and threaten schools' efforts to support students'
mental, social and emotional well-being that has only
intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Congress must continue to do what is right for this
generation. Now is the time for us to continue to buildup our
supports for students and not play politics with our children's
lives. We know that social and emotional learning paves the way
to a stronger, healthier future for our students. Thank you for
your time.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Samuel follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Sablan. Thank you very much, Dr. Samuel, and thank
you for doing very well on your time. I would now like to turn
to Dr. Schwinn. Dr. Schwinn, please, you have 5 minutes, and
you know when 5 minutes go. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF DR. PENNY SCHWINN, TENNESSEE COMMISSIONER ON
EDUCATION, TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Ms. Schwinn. Yes sir. Thank you. Good morning, Chairman
Sablan, Ranking Member Owens, and members of the subcommittee.
I am Penny Schwinn, Commissioner of Education from the great
State of Tennessee. Thank you for inviting me to testify at
today's hearing. I appreciate the opportunity to share
Tennessee's experience, and the incredible work of our
districts, educators, families, students and communities.
This is an important moment for our country. How we respond
to difficult situations and almost impossible tasks reflects
the strength of who we are and what we believe. In Tennessee,
we believe that hard work and smart strategy is the formula for
continued success.
The last few years have been challenging, and I am
exceedingly proud that Tennessee has never waivered in our
steadfast commitment to the principles and ideas that have
shaped and sustained our education community. States received
an extraordinary amount of Federal funding to accelerate
student achievement. ESSER I provided the resources necessary
to address the urgent needs of reopening, which allowed for 97
percent of our State to return to in person learning by August
2020.
It was the right thing for our kids and the No. 1 factor
influencing the academic results we now see. ESSER II provided
the opportunities for Tennessee to invest in strategies to
accelerate student achievement and begin to recover pandemic
related learning loss.
Coinciding with ESSER II our Governor and General Assembly
passed the earliest State education recovery legislation in the
country, ensuring that the large Federal infusion of funding
would have lasting impact.
ESSER III has been more challenging. Before states and
districts had the opportunity to plan for, and show results
from the first two relief packages, they were being asked to
strategize on how to spend an unprecedented amount of
additional money within a very limited timeline that did not
reflect the available supply of resources, or an opportunity to
make the most effective investment for long-term results.
Our department committed to investing those funds
thoughtfully, and in alignment with our strategic plan,
utilizing three guiding principles. First, prioritize and
incentivize what will benefit all students, especially those
with the most need. Second, make evidence-based investments
with the mindset of sustainable impact, and third, measure and
report on the effectiveness of those funds.
To implement these principles, we focused on early
literacy. The Department launched Reading 360, a comprehensive
approach to the science of reading available to every district,
school, family, and partner in the State. The General Assembly
passed the Tennessee Literacy Success Act, which codified the
use of phonics and high-quality instructional materials in
teaching a child to read.
Both parents and educators were part of the process, helped
design the strategy, and our most important stakeholders. The
outcomes have been clear. Tennessee recently posted English
Language Arts results that have largely returned to pre-
pandemic levels, and in many cases exceeded the strongest
scores the State has seen in the last five or more years.
We also prioritized accelerating academic achievement for
all students. As part of the Tennessee Learning Loss and
Student Acceleration Act, Tennessee launched extensive summer
programming, serving nearly one out of every four elementary
school students.
The Department also launched a State tutoring corps, which
funds and supports high dosage, low-ratio tutoring for over
200,000 students through district and community grants, family
micro grants, and on demand tutoring. To incentivize
investments in student achievement, the Department provided
additional resources for those districts who both participated
in tutoring, and invested at least half of ESSER III funds
toward academics.
We are expanding the educator pipeline. Tennessee's Grow
Your Own strategy provides a strong and sustainable teacher
pipeline. For the first time in over a decade the University of
Tennessee's enrollment in educator preparation programs is
increasing, and the State has funded enough slots to fill half
of existing vacancies.
Tennessee became the first State in the country to make
teaching a federally approved apprentice-able profession, so
that aspiring educators can now become a teacher for free as
they are paid to do so.
In closing, we have the opportunity to emerge stronger and
more strategic than ever before. We have heard talk of bold
action, readpapers about what is possible, and dreamed of what
could be true for our students, our teachers, and our schools.
The challenge I offer to all of us is that we turn the
possibility into the reality.
Make bold action for kids the expectation, not the
exception. For us, bold action means a comprehensive literacy
strategy and the largest tutoring program in the country.
Innovation means rethinking what high school can look like to
accelerate post-secondary attainment.
Accountability means publicly reporting on every dollar
spent and evaluating the return on those investments.
Reimagination means overhauling our 30-year-old formula to
sustain proven investments made over the last 3 years. I am
inspired by the work in Tennessee schools, encouraged by the
pace of our progress, and energized by the urgency with which
we move forward.
The pandemic was a pivotal moment in education, but what we
do now has the power to define our field and our country. Thank
you very much.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Schwinn follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Sablan. Yes, thank you very much Dr. Schwinn.
Finally sir, we will hear from Dr. Blomstedt. Please, you have
5 minutes Doctor.
STATEMENT OF DR. MATTHEW BLOMSTEDT, COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION,
NEBRASKA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Mr. Blomstedt. Yes. Chairman Sablan, Ranking Member Owens,
and members of the subcommittee, I am Matt Blomstedt. I am the
Commissioner of Education in the State of Nebraska. I am proud
to be here to represent all of the great work that has taken
place.
I find myself both humbled, and proud at the same moment in
time to be here and represent Nebraska. I want to highlight the
importance of Federal pandemic investments for Nebraska's
pandemic journey. A special thank you is in order for the
congressional foresight to act throughout the pandemic, and
project the current and future needs of students, families,
teachers, schools, and communities.
The initial Elementary and Secondary School Emergency
Relief Fund, CARES, that funding set forth a path for us to
allow us to open schools in the fall of 2020, and invested in
the planning and initial infrastructure that helped Nebraska
walk boldly through the first wave of the pandemic.
However, by the late fall of 2020, the challenges facing
our schools were increasingly complicated. The eventual passage
of ESSER II bolstered the educational infrastructure, and
supports necessary to sustain in person schooling, while
meeting the disruptions of staff shortages, situational
closures, and the safety protocols that included regular,
quarantine and isolation of students and staff.
Academic, social and emotional tolls mounted, but most
educators had little additional capacity to manage much more
than the crisis directly upon their schools. With the passage
of the American Rescue Plan, ESSER III, the historic
investments of the funds have further set schools on a path to
address unfinished teaching and learning, and the nonacademic
effects to students.
In Nebraska's case, the passage allowed State and local
leaders to invest in addressing the multiple impacts already
realized. It also allowed capacity to counteract the ongoing
challenges that are now measurable.
As this school year commences, I see several challenging
trends exacerbated during the pandemic. Strikingly, chronic
absenteeism in Nebraska increased by about 70 percent from
45,000 pre-pandemic, to over 77,000. Also, the math achievement
gap between English learners and all students increased by 5
percentage points on the statewide assessments.
Pandemic impacts, coupled with ongoing and pre-existing
achievement gaps across race, ethnicity, poverty, and special
needs had an impact in Nebraska, commensurate with preliminary
numbers from NAEP. Knowing the likelihood of such academic
challenges, the Nebraska Department of Education established a
framework for school renewal and acceleration in the spring of
2021, that helped us focus ESSER II and ESSER III funds on the
critical mindset shift from learning loss to unfinished
learning, from recovery to renewal, and from remediation to
acceleration.
We created professional learning opportunities for school
and district teams to operationalize the framework, and target
their allocations to address unfinished teaching and learning.
This framework was the foundation for a budget roadmap tool
that engaged schools and stakeholders in meaningful dialog
about planning for our funding.
The roadmap provided direction for schools to properly
engage with students, families, and the community at large. At
the State level, we sought to model these engagements in our
own work, and conducted surveys, held focus groups, and
identified key constituents.
The roadmap guided schools to create a theory of action
that used several key strategies aligned with known evidence-
based interventions in their district plans. Like the academic
impacts, we anticipated substantial family and student impacts
on social, emotional and mental health that seemed to hit a
disruptive peak in schools last year.
Fortunately, this year has started with much more reason
for optimism so far this fall. I am hearing that schools
believe behavior concerns that were markedly up in 21-22 have
seemed to wane in comparison now. I believe this is a product
of the increased attention to social emotional needs of
students, coupled with resources that schools have implemented
during the pandemic.
Nebraska used the American Rescue Plan State set aside
investments in part for mental and behavioral health support
for the students, teacher, and staff. The investment in mental
health has been in partnership with key non-profits and
Nebraska's intermediate agencies to scale and regionalize
support accessible to schools.
I also note that local optimism has increased. Teachers and
students alike seem more engaged. This will all take further
study, but I remain optimistic this apparent trend holds across
Nebraska's school settings. Though I have heard concerns of
schools and states ability to spend down resources, Nebraska
has encouraged school plans that meet local needs and State
processes in accord with Federal expectations.
I know that schools are also working to meet deadlines of
proposed investments in projects. Regardless of the counting
timelines, Nebraska endeavors to invest and target funds where
they are most needed. We are just beginning to see the fruits
of those investments and will continue to measure progress in
the year ahead.
In closing, I am proud about how Nebraska educators and
students managed in these times, as we addressed the
difficulties, and met the challenges in the first full school
year of the pandemic, a false sense of normal was established.
Schools entered the 21-22 year to a difficult set of
circumstances as the pandemic intensified and disrupted
education further for a third year in a row.
As we start the 22-23 school year this fall, I am
personally grateful for the investments made through the
American Rescue Plan, as this will be the opportunity to not
simply restore normal, but to manage through the remainder of
the pandemic and grow out of this crisis to establish a better
future. Thank you.
[The Statement of Mr. Blomstedt follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Sablan. Thank you, thank you very much Dr.
Blomstedt, and thank you to all the witnesses for sharing your
testimony, your thoughts with us. Under Committee Rule 9(a), we
will now question witnesses under the 5-minute rule. I will be
recognizing subcommittee members in seniority order. Again, to
ensure that members' 5-minute rule is adhered to, staff will be
keeping track of time, and the timer will show a blinking light
when time is expired, but please be attentive to the time. Wrap
up when your time is over and remute your microphone.
Before turning to my questions, I would like to first just
for the record address something that Mr. Owens is the Ranking
Member of the Subcommittee. I think one of us may have
inadvertently said he was Mr. Burgess.
Another thing, let me be clear--let us be clear. Everybody
wants school open. However, Democrats want schools to open and
operate safely. While my Republican colleagues wanted to
prematurely open schools regardless of if it was safe or not.
This is particularly alarming as COVID-19 poses a significant
risk to students, teachers and families.
I should know, I have two teachers in my household. COVID-
19 was one of the leading causes of pediatric death in 2020. As
of July 14, 2022, at least 1,300 active and retired K to 12
educators and personnel have died of COVID-19. Of those 449
were active teachers. All of those teachers could have been
mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, teachers.
I mean just they have lives and families, so we should be
careful to ensure states and school districts could reopen to
the public health crisis and reopen safely, Democrats passed
the American Rescue Plan which delivered the largest one-time
investment in K to 12 schools.
Thanks to this investment, nearly all schools are open for
in person learning. Let me ask my questions. Dr. Blomstedt sir,
states must reserve 5 percent of ARP ESSER funds to address
learning loss by implementing evidence based and preventions
that respond to social, emotional, and academic needs. I think
the timer should be on, okay it is.
States are also required to reserve 1 percent of the ARP
ESSER funds for summer enrichment, and 1 percent of funds for
out of school time programming. Dr. Let me ask, how is Nebraska
using these reservations to address learning loss?
Mr. Blomstedt. Thank you, Chairman Sablan. The reality for
Nebraska is we really, as we worked with our schools to build
plans we did two different things. On our State set aside, we
really looked to the set of partners that can help us with
student engagement, student and family engagement.
We worked with a partner called Nebraska Children Families
Foundation, that actually helped us build capacity. It was hard
to find the immediate capacity to do that particular work. We
actually established both academic supports in that setting as
well as our mental health supports as well.
Really building that out statewide to give schools capacity
and resources that they could connect with, and tie that into
their plans and their particular work. We have seen schools
take that up, including trying to secure licensed mental health
practitioners to be a part of the school setting, to ensure
that teachers are prepared and trained to be supported as well
as support their students, so we have done both.
Chairman Sablan. All right. How are you ensuring that
interventions are targeted to student groups mostly affected by
the pandemic, such as students of color, students from low-
income families, students with disabilities, and English
learners, all four of which I qualify.
Mr. Blomstedt. Yes, we actually did a unique thing where we
mapped across the State and looked at various social impacts
that were already existing within our population, and then
actually highlighted our schools that were identified
underneath the Federal Accountability for Targeted Support and
Improvement and Comprehensive Support and Improvement, and
began to target resources from the State level, as well as
further assist those schools in their planning, so we could
target to the right students.
Chairman Sablan. All right, thank you. Dr. Blomstedt, the
teacher shortage is disproportionately impacting students with
disabilities. For example, in Omaha here, and you are in
Nebraska, the largest school district in Nebraska, the majority
of unfilled teaching positions are in special ed.
I have a child who is--a son who is in special ed too.
Those reports indicate that as of the end of August at the
elementary school level, 77 teaching positions remained open,
and 63 of these were special education or support jobs. On the
secondary level there were 75 unfilled teaching positions,
including 66 special education jobs.
Can you tell us, discuss how school districts in Nebraska
are using ARP or other Federal funds to address this issue, and
what more needs to be done to ensure students with disabilities
have the qualified teachers, and staff to ensure they receive a
free and appropriate public education, appropriate for America,
sir.
Mr. Blomstedt. Yes. I would say in Nebraska, probably true
across the country, that even pre-pandemic there were shortages
of special ed teachers for those environments. What we really
focused in on is how can we help teachers come from a lot of
different pathways, and we have had legislation passed in
Nebraska that allows us to be able to change that.
We are using ARP funds to actually recruit and retain
teachers in a variety of ways. Our schools are thinking about
different strategies that do that, and I am really excited to
be able to try to recruit teachers with our 16 teacher
preparation institutions, and we are really looking for first
generation students. We are looking for the opportunity to move
students into those special needs arenas as well.
Chairman Sablan. Thank you. You know one of my first
impressions of the United States of America happens to be
Nebraska. Many of our young ladies who go to school for nuns,
they go to Nebraska. They come back and hey, you have been back
and many of them are still with us today, very good people.
Thank you Dr. Blomstedt.
I will add just Dr. Schwinn, maybe to a little degree--a
less degree, we have something in my district that support
teachers--individuals are actually paid to go to school and
teach at the same time, and that is a program that works for us
with a teacher shortage. My 5 minutes are overdue. I now
recognize Mr. Owens, the Ranking Member for the purpose of
questioning the witnesses, thank you.
Mr. Owens. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dr. Schwinn, in your
latest statement you talked about the high percentage of
schools that are open for in-person instruction in the fall of
2020. Of those who were not, do you believe those continued to
close increased the harm done to disadvantage the students?
Ms. Schwinn. The majority of schools in Tennessee, 97
percent were open going into the 2021 school year. All of our
schools offered in-person instruction by March 8 of 2021. When
we look at the academic achievement data, as well as other
indicators such as behavior referrals, et cetera, we do see
that those schools that were open from the start of the year,
and that is across urban, suburban and rural environments,
those students did perform better.
A great example for us is in Chattanooga, Hamilton County.
Those students saw achievement that was actually higher than
pre-pandemic levels, and that crossed groups, including
economically disadvantaged students, and students with
disabilities.
Mr. Owens. Okay. I am going to continue to ask. One of the
strategies discussed in your testimony, folks of early
literacy--you mentioned specifically the state's literacy
success acts codified the use of phonics. Explain more about
why that matters, and the harm done to children as we back away
from phonics.
Ms. Schwinn. Absolutely. Phonics based instruction,
systematic phonics based instruction in the science of reading
is pivotal, and I would say completely researched based, and
absolutely essential to teach a child to read. I think
especially for those students who have trouble learning to
read, students with characteristics of dyslexia, et cetera.
In Tennessee we have taken a very hard approach because we
know when students are not on grade level and reading by third
grade, they are four times more likely to drop out. Those who
are reading on grade level are much more likely to have long-
term success in both income, socioeconomic success, as well as
health outcomes.
Having a phonics first approach certainly is research
based, it helps those students to understand the science of how
to put together sounds and words in order to understand what
they are reading, and I would also say that knowledge-based
curriculum, in terms of supporting the knowledge that goes into
learning to read is going to be incredibly important.
We are very excited about our results and certainly they
speak for themselves.
Mr. Owens. Thank you for that. My final question is more of
a general one. As you acknowledged in your testimony, the last
round of the COVID funding might not have been quite necessary,
or at the very least we owed it to the fellow taxpayers to take
a more strategic approach on any third round of COVID aid.
At the same time, we want states and school districts to
use the funding they already received in a strategic way to
address the students' learning loss. Can you talk more about
the steps you are taking at the State level for holding school
districts accountable for using those funds wisely?
Why this approach does not seem to be the norm across the
country?
Ms. Schwinn. Sure. I will talk about a couple of things.
Certainly, what we did in terms of the process. First and
foremost, we used a standard template for all of our districts.
That allowed for comparability, for the public, the general
assembly, and others to be able to understand how are our
districts investing their funds? We aligned that to high
quality academics, student readiness and supports, and then
certainly the educator pipeline and supporting our great
professionals in our public school systems.
Second is we proactively worked with our State
comptroller's office and our auditor. We wanted to make sure
that we were thinking about what, how schools would be held
accountable on the back end to set them up for success on the
front end. Having those early conversations was really
important, especially for fiscal responsibility and management.
Then to compliment that we offered grants to districts, and
those grants to districts provided additional pre-auditing
support for them, pre-monitoring support, so they could start
to look at exactly how they needed to organize information and
data, and ensure that the spending was aligned to best
practice, and what was going to help students.
The last thing that we did is we encouraged all of our
districts to use at least 1 percent of their funding for areas
that would allow for data collection, making sure data was
valid, and some of their internal monitoring and support.
Again, to ensure that we saw appropriate spending and
then--what we are doing now is really looking at the returns on
those investments, so our strong investments in literacy, in
high dosage tutoring, effective high school programs and CTE
programs, and then certainly our students who have struggled
the most, students with disabilities, economically
disadvantaged and English learners, ensuring that those
investments are actually working for kids.
I think that strategy put together along with the public
transparency has been pivotal in the State of Tennessee.
Mr. Owens. Very good. For someone who has parents who are
very invested in teaching, my dad was a college professor for
40 years, my mom was a high school teacher, so I know what it
is to have teachers who love this profession. I look forward to
entering 2023 having some really good conversations with all
the states that are really winning out, very very innovative,
and make sure we not only bring the best into this
professional, but keep the best, so thank you so much for your
efforts, I appreciate it.
Ms. Schwinn. Thank you, sir.
Mr. Owens. I yield back.
Chairman Sablan. Yes. Thank you very much, Mr. Owens. Now I
would like to recognize one of our teachers of the year, Ms.
Johanna Hayes of Connecticut. You are next, 5 minutes.
Mrs. Hayes. Thank you, Chairman Sablan. Thank you to our
witnesses for your testimony today. The pandemic has adversely
affected our entire education environment, from students and
teachers to parents and caregivers. I remind people we had a
global pandemic.
We made choices to save lives. Oftentimes we hear about the
number of children who died from the pandemic, and that number
is thank God low, but of the million people who died during
this time, those were parents and grandparents, and community
members of these children.
People who do not weigh that into the equation really have
a lack of understanding or appreciation for how students learn.
In my State of Connecticut, we saw declines in student
performance and achievement due to COVID-19, particularly
amongst high need students, much like most other people in the
Nation.
However, in 2021 and 2022, academic growth results show
that students grew slightly faster than they did in the 2018-19
school year, an encouraging sign of learning acceleration as
schools emerge from this pandemic using American Rescue Plan
Act funds.
The Connecticut State Department of Education is leading
the way in social and emotional learning, making tools
available to districts at no cost, engaging parents and
teachers with resources to support social emotional learning,
recruiting teachers, and all of the challenges that have arisen
during the pandemic.
Too often social and emotional learning is seen as separate
from academics, however, building strong relationships with
students and creating opportunities to develop cognitive skills
is critical to learning, that is how kids learn. I have to tell
you, I have a 14-year-old son who was in sixth grade when this
pandemic started. He went to virtual, then went to completely
hybrid.
Last year they touched the ground. It was touch and go
because school would open, close whenever there was an
outbreak, so he entered this year as a 9th grader, having very
little experience in the middle school. I worry about what that
means and how we support that learning, because I know what it
takes for a kid to be on green, ready to learn as a 9th grader
in high school.
That is why the resources that we put in place, the wrap
around services are so critical to student learning. It is not
just about the geography of the school building for kids to
learn, and that is what I've heard over and over and over
again. Again, I have to stress that we had a global pandemic,
the likes of something we have never seen before, something
that no educator, no parent, no professional could have ever
been prepared for.
Something that even the teacher of the year had never heard
of happening. This idea that we made flipping choices, and made
a decision to close down schools is completely flawed.
I challenge anyone on this committee to say that they care
about children of this profession as much as--more than me. You
know we all care about children. We all care about their well-
being, we all want them to have an opportunity for success, and
we all should be invested in solutions to make sure that we
close these gaps.
I have used way too much of my time on that, so I will try
to get in one question. Dr. Samuel, given what you know about
the relationships between SCL and academic growth, do you
expect that students taught using these methods will close the
learning gaps faster than students who are not?
Ms. Samuel. Thank you for the question. I just want to be
clear. Social and emotional learning paves the way for academic
learning. I want to turn to a comment that Dr. Blomstedt made
about chronic absenteeism. Chronic absenteeism is not just a
challenge in Nebraska, but we are seeing it nationwide. Over 22
percent of our children are being marked chronically absent
because they are not engaged.
When we talk about social and emotional learning skills,
those are the skills that can help bring our kids back. It is
powerful relationships; it is having the confidence to learn.
As we have talked to parents from across the Nation, they are
not only concerned about the academics, they are concerned
about their kids feeling like they belong, feeling like they
are able to focus and stay motivated, how to reduce their kids'
stress and anxiety.
Those are some of the reasons why kids are not only missing
school, but if they are in school they are not learning because
they are not emotionally or socially present. We have to
understand that we cannot bifurcate the two right now. We
cannot separate social and emotional learning and academics. We
have to ensure that they are integrated.
I myself am also a former principal and educator. My boys
started the pandemic at kindergarten and in third grade, and
right now I am seeing the transition for even both of them
academically and the important role that social emotional
learning plays to make sure that kids can recognize their
frustration, identify strategies to not only manage those
frustrations, but also have the confidence to ask for help.
Those are all skills that kids need in order to recover
academics.
Mrs. Hayes. Thank you so much. Mr. Chair, I yield back.
Chairman Sablan. The gentlelady yields. I would now like to
call Mr. Allen of Georgia. Mr. Allen, 5 minutes.
Mr. Allen. All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want
to thank the witnesses for being here today. You know we talked
about it, many students across the United States are facing the
long-term effects from not being in the classroom, mainly
learning loss, and even social skills that need to be improved,
like how to interact with other students, teachers in the
classroom.
My district includes rural parts of Georgia, and I have
heard stories about the effects of learning loss due to many
counties not having access to rural broadband during that
critical time in 2020. I tell you, all the money this Federal
Government has spent in the last 3 years to deal with COVID,
and we still do not have fiberoptic to every home in America--
is just it is shameful.
Luckily in my home State of Georgia, our Governor reopened
the State early under much criticism. In fact, July 2020, I
recently introduced the Education Flexibility for Families Act
to require schools to provide an option for every parent.
Either in that option was for in-person learning to receive,
and we needed the funding to make sure that happened.
Unfortunately, teachers' unions played a large role in
shaping guidance, and I believe that the teachers union you had
had--they did not endorse what I was trying to do to give the
parents and the children those options. You know, they
prioritized politics over our students.
Dr. Schwinn, what are the best practices that you have seen
that other school districts could implement to fill the gap in
students' education and life skills? Moving forward, how could
we ensure that teachers unions truly do have the students' best
interest at heart?
Ms. Schwinn. Thank you, sir. One of the things that I am
probably the most proud of in the State of Tennessee are our
incredible teachers. They have stepped up in a way that I think
is not just impressive, but historic. When we think about high
dosage tutoring, 200,000 seats that we will be filling, we do
not have the same vacancies because our teachers are working
before school, after school, and restructuring daily schedules
to step up for their kids.
We are also seeing in terms of our summer programming, like
I said one in four elementary school students have served in
summer school in Tennessee, one in five middle school students.
We also saw the same thing where our teachers were stepping up
and participating in summer school where we did not have the
vacancies.
It is important that we compensated them for that work,
that we respected them as professionals, and certainly brought
them into the co-planning that exists in all of our work,
including early literacy. I think continuing that work is going
to be incredibly important as we fill shortages and move
students forward.
Mr. Allen. All right. You said in your testimony the
importance of transparency in the Elementary and Secondary
School Emergency Relief funding, ESSER. In 2021, Georgia
launched a dashboard to allow the public to see how school
districts in Georgia are using their COVID-19 funding, and
transparency and accountability are critical to ensure every
dollar is spent in a meaningful way.
What are some of the best practices you saw in
accountability with the funding in Tennessee that other states
and districts could follow?
Ms. Schwinn. Certainly, I want to commend Georgia because I
think we took a similar approach. Right now, we have a website
that tracks school models, absenteeism, you can see every
single community engagement plan, as well as ESSER plan. The
other thing that we have done is that we are a reimbursement
State.
We now are requiring every district to provide
documentation for every dollar spent. All of those expenditures
are publicly available, as well as the breakdown of how funds
are being spent. We are doing program evaluations for every
district in terms of the return on those investments.
Mr. Allen. Okay. Finally, we have just a little over a
minute. You discussed bold action you feel needs to be taken
for our students. I had a superintendent--we have an inner-city
school there in Augusta, in my district, and I said so what are
you doing to improve, you know, the school system? He said
well, I am trying; I am working on improving parents. He said
they play a critical role.
You said there needs to be bold action. Sometimes I, you
know, I have been a long-time advocate for school choice. Okay,
we know we have got a problem. We lag behind the world here. We
got 36 seconds. What can we do to motivate children to perform
like we know they can perform in this country?
Ms. Schwinn. Yes. I will answer this both as a mom of three
young students, as well as a Commissioner. I think the best
thing we can do is hold high expectations for our students and
encourage them to meet those expectations. I hope all three of
my kids are teachers. That is my big dream for them, but I
think that what we are seeing is that when we challenge our
students to be excellent, when we give them the supports they
need to do so, and whatever that means.
That is all of our students. We are seeing our students
rise to those expectations, and we are seeing the people who
deeply care about them in our school systems, also do whatever
it takes to ensure our children can thrive, and I think that is
special about Tennessee, and a lot of states in our country.
Mr. Allen. All right. Well thank you so much. Go Georgia
Bulldogs, and I yield back. Sorry about that Tennessee.
Chairman Sablan. Yes, and actually she is also a Bear I
understand so. Anyway, thank you very much Mr. Allen. Now Ms.
Wilson, Ms. Wilson, for questioning you have 5 minutes, if you
unmute, thank you. Yes.
Ms. Wilson. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Chair Sablan, Ranking
Member Owens, thank you so much for today's hearing. Before I
begin let me say congratulations, and thank our teachers for
bringing our children safely through the pandemic. What would
we have done had it not been for such a wonderful teaching
force across this nation?
They stepped in with very little training, learned how to
Zoom, taught our children how to Zoom, kept them on notice,
communicated with parents, woke up every morning, and remember
these teachers also had their personal children in their homes
Zooming as they were teaching on Zoom to hundreds of children
across the Nation.
We cannot forget the sacrifice that our teachers made
during the pandemic. Because of them this Nation is in order
and stayed in order during the pandemic. I just wanted to say
that. I come from one of the largest and most diverse school
districts in the United States, where 90 percent of students
come from a racially minoritized community.
This is extremely important for me and how we manage. I
want to ask Ms.--Dr. Samuel, what are some of the best
strategies for addressing students' social, emotional, and
academic needs? Can you please share some bright spots from
states or districts that have employed these strategies
effectively?
Ms. Samuel. Yes, thank you for that question. I think first
I want to underscore that social and emotional learning is not
a one size fits all approach but is really tailored to each
community. Really, there are a couple of primary strategies
that I want to just elevate because they are often used
together.
One is that emphasis and focus on relationship building.
Two, teaching those skills explicitly, and giving an
opportunity for kids to practice these skills, and the adults
to model the skills. Three, the time for collaboration and
reflecting during academic lessons. It can look different ways.
For example, relationship building, that is where there is
an activity where students can talk about their ideas, and
actually bring in other voices, and think collaboratively, and
work together. When we talk about explicit instruction, that is
where the teacher can actually guide their students in
practicing their social awareness and their relationship
skills.
Then as we talk about the integration into academics, for
example if there is a science lesson, students can have time to
collaborate in small groups and practice the skills that are
not only discussed and talked about explicitly during the day,
but then also during that instructional time.
I think one of the examples I would like to bring up is in
Washoe County, Nevada where they have implemented a program
called Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports, or PBIS,
to really improve the school climate and student outcomes. We
have seen--they have seen a dramatic increase of almost 20
percent in graduation rates.
Also, in Dallas they integrated SEL across academic
instruction, family engagement and professional development and
school climate, and they have seen a dramatic increase in
students responding that they have a more positive view of
school because of those supportive relationships and social
awareness, and they have also had a decrease in suspension.
We see holistically across the U.S. different examples of
how social and emotional learning is being used to not only
improve academics, but also improve school climate and culture,
which we know are so important for student engagement.
Ms. Wilson. Thank you so much. This question is for Ms.
Jordan. I hope we have time. Black students who have a black
teacher for at least 1 year in elementary school are less
likely to drop out of high school, and more likely to consider
college. How can states and districts best leverage COVID
relief funds to diversify their education workforce?
Ms. Jordan. Yes, thank you for the question. We are seeing
a lot of states and some districts developing Grow Your Own
programs, which is bringing teachers, using after school
workers, or paraprofessionals, teachers' aides, and helping
them develop the skills they need, and the education they need
to become teachers.
I feel like this is a good strategy because it is putting
people who are already in the community into teaching
positions, and a lot of times these are diverse teachers, black
and Latino, and can really help students in the ways you're
describing.
Chairman Sablan. Thank you.
Ms. Wilson. I yield back.
Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Ms. Wilson. Now let me
recognize, please, Mr. Keller. Mr. Keller, you have 5 minutes
sir, thank you.
Mr. Keller. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As it becomes clear
just how devastating pandemic-related learning loss was on
students, we need to be making sure that the government is
using taxpayer dollars wisely and not making matters even worse
for our students.
Through the American Rescue Plan, the Federal Government
spent 190 billion dollars on the elementary and secondary
school emergency relief fund to help schools reopen. Most of
these funds have yet to be spent. Meanwhile, students are now
back in the classroom raising concerns that the American Rescue
Plan was not really about helping our students succeed, and
more of an effort to bolster teachers' unions and President
Biden's allies.
According to the National Assessment of Educational
Progress report, reading and math scores declined at
unacceptable levels during the pandemic. The National
Assessment and Educational Progress data suggests that students
saw an average 5-point decline in reading, and a 7-point
decline in math during the same timeframe.
Dr. Schwinn, thank you for being here. I appreciate the
witnesses all being here, but Dr. Schwinn, from your experience
with pandemic-related school reopening policy in Tennessee, can
you tell us about balancing students' access to in-person
education, with the need to emphasize local solutions to
various challenges?
Ms. Schwinn. Thank you for that question, and I think that
gets to the core of the approach in Tennessee. It has certainly
been that locals know what is best in their local communities,
and it is the responsibility of the State to help to support
those local decisions.
What we saw in the State of Tennessee again, is that the
vast majority of schools were back in person, and at minimum
hybrid throughout the 2020-21 school year. As a result, they
were able to invest the dollars that did come in on specific
strategies and practices that were going to support their
students moving forward, and to thrive, and we have seen the
academic results. Much quicker recovery than I think was
projected, and certainly we are at pre-pandemic levels in
English language arts.
What I would say is really important about that is it is
providing folks with the tools they need to make those really
informed decisions, and then allowing again local communities
to make the choices that are best fit for what they think is
best for their students.
Mr. Keller. How did you in Tennessee make those decisions
so much better than other states, or other educational school
districts and so on? How were you able to make those decisions
so much better and benefit your students than other parts of
the country? What did you do differently?
Ms. Schwinn. I think part of it comes down to we have
exceptional educators, district leaders, General Assembly,
Governor, community organization that were all hyper focused on
what is best for kids, looking at the data. Figuring out what
those tradeoffs would be.
I think the other part of that is that we knew that for
people to feel comfortable coming back, we had to make sure
they had the resources, so the Governor used most of his
Federal relief pot to ensure that there was on demand PPE for
schools and staff who felt like they needed it.
We had devices that were provided to all schools at no cost
that students were able to move back and forth as they saw fit.
What we also had was a consolidated strategic plan to focus on
academic student readiness and our exceptional teachers and
educators in the State, so that the resources were really
targeted to what we knew was going to move our school systems
forward, and support student academic acceleration from the
start.
That again started, we made some announcements in March
through June 2020, about tutoring, summer school, and other
programs that we knew would be essential, and we did not waver
from that plan.
Mr. Keller. Not every State did that then, I guess is what
you are telling me.
Ms. Schwinn. Other states made different choices, but that
was certainly what we thought was incredibly important in the
State of Tennessee.
Mr. Keller. The results you saw in Tennessee prove out that
you made the right decision.
Ms. Schwinn. I would say so, back to pre-pandemic levels in
English language arts, and 40 percent recovered in math. We
expect to be fully recovered this school year.
Mr. Keller. I would hope that people in other states would
take that as a lesson, and follow your example. Just another
thing, Dr. Schwinn, the learning loss numbers that I mentioned
earlier, how might we reverse some of these troubling trends,
and prevent students from falling farther behind?
Ms. Schwinn. I think the No. 1 most beneficial thing that
we have really done outside of our early literacy work, which I
am very proud of, is high dosage tutoring. Again, that is over
200,000 students will have the benefit of that high dosage
tutoring. It is the largest State program in the country.
When we look at the data for those districts who
implemented with fidelity and high-quality that high dosage
tutoring, what we saw is that they increased at a substantially
higher rate across student groups than those districts that did
not.
What we heard from one principal--it is our Tennessee all
core month this month, what we heard from one principal is they
said if we do nothing else in this State, we must continue high
dosage tutoring forevermore. It is a game changer for our kids,
and it is one of the most important things we have invested in
as a State.
Mr. Keller. Thank you. I appreciate that and I yield back.
Chairman Sablan. Thank you very much, Mr. Keller. Now I
would like to recognize Mr. Scott, the Chairman of the Full
Committee. Mr. Scott, you have 5 minutes, sir.
Mr. Scott. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ms. Jordan,
we just heard a complaint that a lot of the money has not been
spent, and I think I heard in your testimony there is a
difference between allocation, or commitment and actually
spending.
If you hire a counselor today on a 3-year contract, is
there a difference between the time, between the time you would
call the money committed or allocated, and the time it would be
reported as spent?
Ms. Jordan. That is exactly right. Thank you, Chairman
Scott. What we are seeing, a significant amount of money has
been spent. There is still a lot left to spend, but what we see
in these plans is a lot of detail going budgeting out for plans
that were submitted a year ago, budgeting out for 3 years. If
you are using that to hire a teacher, or a tutor, you have only
spent a fraction of that money.
That does not mean you do not know what to do with it, or
you do not have plans for it. It just means it has not been
spent. There is also a process, Commissioner Schwinn was
talking about where the districts spend money, and they seek
reimbursement for the State. The amount of money that we know
has been spent lags behind what has actually been spent.
Yes, I was--there were some districts that do not have much
detail, but I was surprised by the level of detail the
districts have put into these plans, and the, you know, and the
forethought to have different positions for two to 3 years out,
hence spending will continue for two to 3 years out.
Mr. Scott. Thank you. Dr. Samuel, many children have
experienced adverse childhood experiences during the pandemic.
Those experiences have been highly correlated with future
problems. Can you tell me what kinds of experiences like this
occurred during the pandemic, and how social and emotional
learning can help?
Ms. Samuel. Yes. We know many children experienced trauma
of a variety of ways. One of the things we know about social
and emotional learning is that it creates many protective
factors for our kids who have experienced trauma. One of the
things we have seen in districts that have had high quality SCO
implemented in their district, even pre-pandemic, those
students came back already having stronger relationships.
They had someone within the school building that they could
have a conversation with about what they were feeling, how it
was impacting their learning. One of the things we know is that
educators who have really strong relationships with their
students, not only do those students perform better, but they
are more likely to have lower incidences of discipline, and
also higher expectations.
That is one of the things Dr. Schwinn also mentioned that
she wants for her children, and I know I want for mine. We want
for all of our kids, so ensuring that those high expectations
are there for kids, even kids who have experienced trauma,
those onsite building relationships are truly key.
Mr. Scott. Thank you. Mr. Blomstedt, can you--Dr.
Blomstedt, can you tell me how in dealing with teacher
shortages--there are a lot of innovative strategies used to
accelerate credentials. How do you make sure that those with
the accelerated credentials do not all end up in schools
disproportionately attended by minorities and low-income?
Mr. Blomstedt. Yes, thank you. I should call you Chairman
Scott, in a different setting, so Congressman Scott, thank you
for the question. The reality for the circumstances of trying
to ensure that No. 1 we really hit a shortage not just because
of the pandemic, but we had certain shortage areas already. We
were looking in Nebraska about how we can actually create
alternative pathways for folks.
We were looking at barriers for folks entering the teaching
profession as well, and trying to bring all those things
together has been really an important part of that. We have
been working with our teacher prep institutions about new
strategies we learned from our colleagues and states. Tennessee
has done some great things as well.
Think about how we can bring teachers in the profession and
support them, mentorships and other things that bring them into
the profession as well, ensuring that we can bring teachers
ultimately to make sure that our high poverty areas, our
diverse populations are represented as part of that strategy is
also key and important.
Thinking of key supports that we can do at a State level,
as well as at a district level has been part of that for us,
and we have implemented quite a few of those.
Mr. Scott. How do you make sure that all of these people,
with what could be described as lesser credentials, do not all
end up disproportionately at certain schools?
Mr. Blomstedt. We will continue to track that in Nebraska.
We maintain a very high expectation that we would see teachers
with high levels of credentials in all areas, and so we will
track that in kind of our accounting of that as well.
Mr. Scott. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
Chairman Sablan. Yes, thank you Chairman Scott. Let me now
recognize Mr. Grothman please. Mr. Grothman, 5 minutes sir,
thank you.
Mr. Grothman. My question is for Dr. Schwinn. In Wisconsin,
we spent about 2 and a half percent of the American Rescue Act
dollars so far. We have got 1.5 billion, at least those are the
numbers I've been given. Usually there is no shortage of people
in the education system who want to spend dollars on something
or other.
It is kind of shocking that over a year after that bill
passed so little has actually they found something to spend it
on. Could you compare that to your experience in Tennessee, or
what you hear in other parts of the country?
Ms. Schwinn. Sure. I can speak to the State of Tennessee.
What we have certainly looked at is tracking how much we would
expect districts to have spent by now, as well as kind of their
obligation plans. Right now we would expect that the total
amount of Federal funding should be somewhere between 30 to 40
percent spent, based on when the funds were received, and the
rate of I am going through procurement processes, et cetera.
We are on track to have that level of spending across our
districts. I will say that one of the things that we do is we
meet with our superintendents regularly. I meet with about--
myself, and a person on my cabinet, will meet with
superintendents in every single district once a month for a
significant period of time.
We have Wednesday calls to talk about the tracking of
spending, and then we certainly have our regional offices who
work with districts on those investment strategies.
Mr. Grothman. Do you feel in Tennessee and the country as a
whole we are paying enough attention to what I will call in the
high school realm primarily, skills-based education? I mean
there are so many jobs out there that would pay 60, 70, $80,000
if you went into an apprenticeship right out of high school and
began to have what used to be called shop class in high school.
Do you feel these things have been adequately funded, or
are we spending too much time on things that maybe cannot be
translated to something practical?
Ms. Schwinn. In Tennessee we are focused on the high school
experience, so our General Assembly and Governor Lee's proposed
budget allocated a million dollars to every high school, and
half a million to every middle school to redesign the
experience, so it is more aligned to an actual job, or
postsecondary attainment after high school.
What that is now allowing is for every single high school
and middle school in the State to have aligned programs of
study, and CTE programs that will ensure that students are not
only ready for a post-secondary degree or credential, but some
of them can go straight into the workforce.
Actually during the pandemic we more than doubled our STEM
designated schools, and have the highest level of work-based
learning and apprenticeship participation that we have ever had
in our State.
Mr. Grothman. In your experience, are too many people in
this country going to a 4-year university or college setting?
Ms. Schwinn. I think that we need to reevaluate the
conversation, and really align it to the jobs that our children
want after they graduate from high school. That may not be
college. I think for us we are really focusing on the
professional aspirations of our students and creating programs
of study that meet those goals.
Mr. Grothman. Do you think right now we are sending too
many kids, there is too much emphasis on a 4-year college
university situation?
Ms. Schwinn. I do. I think we have to broaden the
discussion for all of our students.
Mr. Grothman. Okay. Next question. One of the things that
bothers me, I guess and first of all, I want you to respond to
what I think an ideal world would be. Wisconsin is like many
states politically about 50/50 right down the middle. People
win or lose with 51, 49 percent. I would think therefore,
clearly in the high school level where you get more
ideological, you should probably have about 50 percent of the
history teachers lean Republican, 50 percent Democrat.
Nevertheless, at least in Wisconsin I am hearing you know a
lot of emphasis on a certain view, world view on LGBTQ, equity
warriors, racially biased, or critical race theory, that sort
of thing. Sometimes to a scary degree. Do you think the
ideological bent of some education professionals is twisting
curriculum in high schools away from what would be right down
the middle of where the American public is?
Ms. Schwinn. I think in speaking with the superintendents
in our State, we teach the State standards. That is the
responsibility of our educators, and it is the thing that we as
a State agency in our districts are focused on. Our General
Assembly did recently pass a prohibited concepts materials act
in the last several years, and that does provide additional
guidance for districts in terms of the expectations.
I will say that we are hyper focused and steadfast on
teaching the State standards as approved by the State Board of
Education.
Mr. Grothman. You are confident we have no critical race
theory or LGBTQ culture competency curriculum in Tennessee?
Ms. Schwinn. We have a process by which if a community
member, a parent, et cetera, identifies something that they
determine to be problematic, they deal with that at the local
level, and appeal that to the State. We have not yet had
something appealed to the State that has been validated as of
now.
Mr. Grothman. Thank you.
Ms. Schwinn. Yes.
Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Mr. Grothman. I will now call
Ms. McBath for 5 minutes of questioning, please.
Mrs. McBath. Thank you so much. First, I would like to say
thank you to Chairman Scott, and thank you to you Subcommittee
Chair Sablan. Thank you for hosting this hearing and thank you
to our witnesses for taking the time out of your busy schedules
today to speak before the committee about our Nation's
students, which we all really are very quite concerned about.
No family in the greatest country in the world should ever
be forced to choose between being able to pay their rent or
their mortgage, and putting healthy, nutritious food on the
table for the children. As I have said before this committee
before, no child, regardless of the zip code that they live in,
or the State that they are born into, should have to face the
pain that comes with going hungry.
No child should have to bear the emotional burden, the
anxiety and the stress that comes with not knowing where their
next meal might come from, or whether they are going to be
eating three meals a day when summer vacation comes around, and
they no longer have access to school breakfast on the lunch
line.
On July 27, this committee advanced H.R. 8540, also known
as the Healthy Meals Healthy Kids Act to address and prevent
the very real and solvable crisis of child hunger in America.
This legislation would re-authorize and update Federal child
nutrition programs by expanding access to, and investing in
school meal programs and modernizing the special supplemental
nutritional program for women, infants and children, and we
know it as WIC.
It would address our summer food insecurity, and improve
school meal capacity and sustainability, and also strengthen
the child adult care for the program known as CACFP. Now the
Healthy Meals Healthy Kids Act, it modernizes our Nation's
child nutrition programs to meet the current needs of our
children.
It puts working families first, and I am so proud to be
supporting it. Mr. Blomstedt, my questions are for you today. I
have two questions given our time constraints. Can you just
briefly discuss some of the successes that you have seen in
your State in regards to child nutrition programs?
Mr. Blomstedt. Yes, happy to. One of the--you know,
obviously in the midst of the pandemic we ended up in
challenging times, and schools became part of the strategy to
ensure that children were fed even though they were not in
school. It was really important.
I also appreciate Congress's foresight on advancing funding
and making sure that there is funding for feeding children all
across the country. As we come off that kind of those
particular concerns and ensuring that there are sufficient
strategies there, our schools have worked together to think
about those summer programs, expanding the types of
opportunities for students.
I continue to believe that obviously everything that
impacts a student if they are coming to school hungry, it is
really going to be a challenge. We continue to look for ways to
expand that. CEP was not actually widely used in Nebraska, so
the community eligibility plan, we see more schools asking us
to be able to participate in that program as an example, any
way of the good things that could happen.
Mrs. McBath. Well thank you for that. My second question
then is you know what do families and schools need to know
about this upcoming school year in terms of assessing school
meals, and given that this is the first time in 2 years where
families are required to submit paperwork in order to access
free or reduced meals?
Mr. Blomstedt. Yes. It is actually this summer, or even the
end of the school year last year. We had a lot of
conversations. I would travel the State and ask superintendents
and school district leaders of all types of sizes, and that was
one of their major concerns was reaching back to parents, and
getting them, and encouraging them to submit the paperwork
necessary to participate in the food programs.
We continue to message. Our schools are talking to us on a
regular basis about how they can continue to message. We tried
to help on that particular message. I am also a parent. I have
five children. We have got our message from our school,
remember your food account is not yet filled up.
I know that that for certain families that could be a
substantial challenge. Nebraska actually provides some
additional funding for that, and tries to secure that, so we
are going to work very hard to ensure that students and
families are aware of the need to fill out that paperwork, and
continue to move on that front as well.
Mrs. McBath. Let me ask you also too, and of course there
might be families that do not speak English very well. Are
there going to be any provisions made to make those forms
additionally in a language, you know, Spanish for you know for
example? We just want to make sure that everyone has access to
the ability to be able to constructively fill out the forms,
and are there any provisions that you might be making to make
those kinds of forms available to everyone?
Mr. Blomstedt. Yes. I will just quickly say I mean folks
might be surprised, but there are about 120 different languages
spoken in Nebraska schools as it is a refugee resettlement
area, and all across the State we see that. We work pretty hard
with our school districts that have multiple languages to help
them with translations services and supports to make sure that
they can fill out those forms.
Mrs. McBath. Thank you very much, and I am out of time.
Chairman Sablan. Thank you, thank you very much, Ms.
McBath. Now let me please ask, call Ms. Miller, Mrs. Miller of
Illinois please.
Mrs. Miller. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Sablan. I am sorry, Mrs. Miller. My apologies.
Ranking Member of the Full Committee, Mrs. Foxx is next here.
Mrs. Foxx. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate that. I
want to thank our witnesses for being here today. Dr. Schwinn,
most Republicans supported the Emergency Education Assistance
provided through the first two rounds of COVID aid in March and
December 2020. We recognized the emergency needs schools were
facing and acted.
Democrats then pushed through a third round of COVID aid
for schools in the American Rescue Plan that Republicans
opposed. We argued it was not clear schools needed another
infusion of taxpayer funds, and that we should wait and
evaluate the impact of the first two rounds before throwing
more money at the system.
Democrats now argue that they deserve credit for getting
schools reopened because of the American Rescue Plan. In
response to that argument, I want to highlight the stats you
included in your written statement. You said more than 98
percent of school districts in Tennessee were open for in-
person instruction for at least 90 percent of the 2020-21
school year, and that every district in the State was open for
in-person instruction by March 8, 2021.
That date is significant because the American Rescue Plan
Act was enacted March 11, 2021, so is it fair to say that the
American Rescue Plan played no role in getting schools reopened
in Tennessee?
Ms. Schwinn. That is correct. 100 percent of schools were
opened by March 8, or had that option.
Mrs. Foxx. Thank you. To what do you give credit for most
schools in Tennessee being open for most of the 2021 school
year?
Ms. Schwinn. Thank you for the question. I think there were
three big components for us. I think first was prioritization.
It was looking at the data that we had available at the time,
and then certainly prioritizing what we believed was best for
students in partnership with our districts.
I think the second was the approach. What we like to say in
Tennessee is how, not if, and so we knew that if we wanted
schools open it was our responsibility to identify solutions
for how to make that happen and be true for our students. That
did take the innovation and work of our teachers and
administrators.
Then third, it was a collective approach. We met every
single day as the Governor's cabinet with those agencies and
departments, whether that was health, or emergency response
aid, et cetera, to strategize on what our school districts
would need in order to maintain that commitment to families and
to students, and I think that was an incredibly important part
of the work in partnership with our everyday calls with
districts for the first year.
Mrs. Foxx. Thank you very much. Dr. Schwinn, there has been
a lot of discussion today about students' mental health
challenges, both today and in the broader discussions around
the country about recovering from COVID. We have also heard a
lot about social and emotional learning.
I have a lot of concerns with what ``social and emotional
learning'' means in practice in way too many schools, but the
mental health challenge that students are facing are real. I
also believe schools should have a role to play in addressing
students' mental health problems, helping them navigate
conflict and so forth.
Sometimes addressing those issues is necessary to help a
student learn. At the same time, I know parents are concerned
that schools are becoming so focused on the students mental
health and social and emotional learning, that schools are
losing sight of their core mission.
In other words, the best way for schools to help students
feel better about themselves is actually to teach them to read,
do math, and understand the other core subjects. Unfortunately,
we have a plethora of data showing that too few students are
being taught these things effectively.
How do we ensure that the legitimate concerns about
students' mental health do not crowd out the core function of
schools?
Ms. Schwinn. Thank you. I think a really important
conversation and topic. I think first and foremost, in
Tennessee, we talk a lot about the parent is the child's first
teacher, and must be an authentic partner in their children's
education. In Tennessee, what we have noted is that the
majority of our families do want to be able to work with the
school, but they need to be able to do so in a confidential way
because these are really sensitive conversations.
We have something called our aware program, and that is an
electronic referral pathway that allows parents to connect with
schools, and providers outside of the school days so that
children do not miss valuable instruction. I think second is
that we have to maintain a focus on academics.
I think we sometimes underestimate that some of the best
things we can do for mental health for students is ensure that
they can read on grade level by third grade, because that opens
up doors for them. We talk about sports and chess club, and all
sorts of after-school activities.
Create opportunities within the school day where you have
engaging pathways and programs of study for students. It brings
up attendance, and it ensures students are actually completing
an academic program that will be beneficial to them after. Then
third, what I would say is that you have to create
infrastructure within the State system, as well as in local
districts, so that districts know that they have community
partners and resources to help them.
One example I will give is in Henry County in Tennessee.
They partnered very closely with the resources that were
available county-wide, so students did not miss valuable
instructional time. 70 percent of students improved grades. 89
percent had a decrease in behavior infractions, and 91 percent
improved their attendance because of those out of school
partnerships.
Mrs. Foxx. Thank you very much. I yield back.
Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Dr. Foxx. I would now like to
recognize Mr. Levin. Sir, you have 5 minutes, thank you.
Mr. Levin. Thanks so much, Chairman Sablan, and thanks to
the witnesses for joining us. States and school districts are
facing many challenges this fall, including shortages of
teachers and other school staff as we've discussed some this
morning.
Data from the Department of Education indicate that teacher
vacancies are more common in high poverty schools, and in
specific subject areas like special ed, STEM, and foreign
languages. Additionally, many states struggle to recruit and
retain teachers of color, despite a wide body of evidence that
suggests teachers of color have many benefits for all students,
and particularly for students of color.
Again those things have come up a bit. Dr. Blomstedt, I
woud like to ask you to dig into this more. How are vacancies
of teachers and other school staff affecting school districts
in your state? Can you please describe some of the evidence-
based strategies that your State is employing to recruit and
retain teachers, and particularly teachers of color?
Mr. Blomstedt. Yes, and thank you Congressman. The reality
for Nebraska, we were watching teacher shortages develop pre-
pandemic, and that was evolving. In the midst of the pandemic
we have seen even more challenges, just having teachers in the
field that are available for the classroom and the immediate
needs.
I have a teacher advisory panel that I used throughout the
pandemic, and I would ask them what are the types of strategies
that would help kind of address the immediate needs, as well as
the long-term needs of recruiting and retaining teachers.
Specifically, also diversifying the teacher pipeline for
Nebraska.
We have a lot of work to do. In the years before even the
pandemic, that was one of our goals to ensure that. We have
seen the research that actually students that have teachers
that reflect their own community, and their own race and
ethnicity, are really an important part of a strategy to build
that.
Not just for those students, but for all students, to see
that depth. What we have been doing, we actually have a couple
projects underway to recruit teachers. One is in an effort, in
fact, Omaha public schools have put an effort together using
some of their ESSER funds to ensure that they are recruiting
teachers, and being able to develop strategies that ensure a
diverse teacher population working with their local university.
We have so many universities, but the University of
Nebraska in this case in Omaha. We are also doing a project
statewide with University of Nebraska, Lincoln, on a strategy
to specify and work with our educators rising programs to
identify students earlier that in high school, that might want
to be teachers, with a particular focus on first generation
teachers as well.
Finding ways to diversify the teachers' workforce, we are
tracking the data as I was mentioning before, looking at how we
can ensure that we make those improvements is going to be
really critical for us.
Mr. Levin. Can I just ask you--given as you have said more
than once that this started--the teacher shortage issue started
before the pandemic. Do you think that until we are able to
raise compensation for teachers, I mean this is a market
economy that people have to feed their families.
There are a lot of other jobs out there, that it will be
hard ultimately to overcome this shortage?
Mr. Blomstedt. Yes, I think a couple different things. No.
1, also kind of marketing the teachers that it is a great
career for a lot of different reasons, and Nebraska has been
part of that. Compensation has mattered. It has always mattered
within any particular field.
We are seeing other areas raise wages to be able to compete
in this environment. We are seeing that schools in Nebraska are
looking at those challenges trying to find ways to ensure that
we can compensate teachers as the professionals they are.
Mr. Levin. Yes, thank you so much. I know also that respect
for the profession is key, and these constant efforts to tear
down teachers and especially organizations cannot be helpful.
Let me try to squeeze in a question for Dr. Samuel. You
addressed this somewhat in your opening, but this continual
sort of bifurcation, or separating of social and emotional
learning from you know reading, writing and arithmetic and the
idea that these things are contrary to each other, or competing
with each other.
I am a dad of four kids. My youngest is, you know, still in
high school. I have talked to all my superintendents, my
teachers--kids have been set back in their emotional
development a couple of years. I mean a fourth grader is acting
like a second grader and so forth. What can we do to overcome
this simplistic view and realize how crucial it is, the
emotional life of kids?
Ms. Samuels. Thank you for that question. I just want to
underscore by reminding everyone that all learning is social
and emotional. Right now, we are using the skills that we are
talking about that kids need in the classroom. We are talking
about data. We are having the courage to have conversations. We
are trying to identify solutions, and these are the skills that
we as adults use, that we also want our students to use and
apply in the classroom.
We cannot bifurcate them, and we have to realize these
skills are foundational for all learning because we learn
through our emotions and how we connect, and also social
interaction.
Mr. Levin. Thank you so much. Mr. Chairman, I think my time
has expired, so I yield back.
Mr. Bowman. Thank you, Mr. Levin. Mrs. Miller from Illinois
is now recognized for 5 minutes.
Mrs. Miller. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Schools were given
billions of dollars over the past two and a half years under
the guise of a pandemic with no accountability measures to
ensure taxpayer dollars were being spent appropriately. Now
that President Biden finally claims the pandemic is over, we
are now learning taxpayer money that the Democrats said that we
needed to respond to the pandemic was actually used to advance
their far-left political equity agenda in the classroom.
It seems like congressional Democrats and President Biden
used the pandemic only to fund the implementation of the
radical agenda in our children's classroom. With that, I would
like to turn to Dr. Schwinn. Dr. Schwinn, it is no secret that
virtual learning for kids has wreaked havoc on their mental and
emotional health.
There is no replacement for in-person learning. Emails
reveal that the Biden Administration and the CDC were
coordinating with teachers' unions to keep our schools closed.
Multiple studies have suggested that union influence affected
school operating decisions more than COVID19. This proves that
teacher unions were motivated by politics, not science, and
definitely not the interests of our students and their
education.
We have all seen the data about students' mental health
post-pandemic, and it is clear: the Biden Administration did
not put our students needs first. How much do you think that
the Biden Administration's slow school reopening process has
exasperated mental health problems for students?
Ms. Schwinn. Thank you for the question. I think what we
have continued to talk about in Tennessee is that, and I think
I said this at the beginning of the pandemic. Tennessee takes
care of our own. One of the things that we really focus on is
what is going to be good for Tennessee, our districts, our
State as a whole, and certainly our communities.
What that meant for us is working with our local health
professionals as well as our State health professionals. It
meant talking to our districts every single day. It meant
making sure that we as a State were organized and coordinated
in terms of the work that we did, and frankly it continues to
be about locals making the best decisions for their local
communities.
That has been a hallmark of our work over the last 3 years,
both academically, and certainly in response to keeping schools
open. I think we have been very successful in keeping schools
open, and we are seeing the benefits of that now.
Mrs. Miller. How do you--can you share with me how you
think keeping schools closed nationwide has exasperated the
children's mental health issues?
Ms. Schwinn. Certainly, and I work closely with the
Commissioner of Mental Health and Substance Abuse in the State
of Tennessee, and one of the things that we do as a partnership
Governor Lee proposed--the Governor, and the General Assembly
approved a 250-million-dollar mental health trust fund in order
to ensure that we are continuing to support those students who
were negatively impacted.
What we do find is that those students who were not in-
person learning have more need in terms of behavioral health.
We are seeing that there is more suicidal ideation within our
schools than we have ever seen before. We have to invest funds
and resources in order to address that very critical and urgent
problem that I think has just accelerated more, while it was
absolutely an issue going into the pandemic as well.
Mrs. Miller. You would say the acceleration would be due to
the schools being closed, or it could have been due to the
schools being closed?
Ms. Schwinn. We certainly see data that would suggest that,
and when we compare districts that were fully open versus those
that did not offer in person learning as quickly as others.
Mrs. Miller. Thank you, and I yield back.
Mr. Bowman. Thank you very much. Mr. DeSaulnier from
California is now recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. DeSaulnier. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for
everyone, all of the panelists for your work. Having been
involved with the summer intersession learning loss in
California for many years pre-COVID. We have taken a lot of
that information and helped during this period.
Dr. Samuel, I would like to talk to you, ask you some
followup actually from what Congressman Levin talked about. I
am very proud of work that Congressman Thompson and I have done
on family engagement centers around the country, bipartisan
work.
We know how effective these can be, and we are now getting
more research as that rolls out around the country. Can you
talk to us a little bit about the importance of those kind of
facilities during COVID and bright spots we have learned where
districts, teachers, administrators, and communities and
families have been able to, in spite of COVID, engage with
their kids?
Ms. Samuel. Thank you for that question, and I do want to
agree with Dr. Schwinn that parents are children's first
teacher, so they absolutely must be involved when it comes to
all aspects of their kid's education. I am a mom. My boys are
in third and sixth grade, and I absolutely expect to be engaged
and brought into the conversation on their academic, and social
and emotional development.
I also will say that one of the things we heard is that we
engaged with parents across the Nation, is that this is more
than just academics. They are worried about their kid's
fundamental success, and so as 80 percent of parents across
party lines have said that they want schools to continue or
expand social and emotional learning, we have to continue to
listen to parents because they are kids' first teachers.
I would like to list an example of Texas, El Paso, they
have actually developed a committee for families and educators
and community members to review and adopt social and emotional
learning programs that align to their local priority. As we
talk about these skills, they are not just life skills.
They are not just academic skills. There was a Wall Street
Journal article that was published that showed 92 percent of
executives want these types of skills for their workforce,
working collaboratively, making good decisions, being able to
understand the perspective of others to solve problems.
Even though 90 percent of our executives want this, they
are having a hard time finding candidates who have these
skills. As we talk about academics, as we talk about these
skills and competencies, we need to understand that it's not
just an academic setting. It is not just in the social setting,
but this also will impact career and life success regardless of
what pathway a student chooses.
Mr. DeSaulnier. I want to followup as well on teachers in
the workforce and mental health support. I hear when I got
around my district, it is a very diverse district in a high-
cost area in the San Francisco Bay area. Always when I talk to
administrators and teachers, the need for mental health
services for them, as they deal with all of the ramifications
of not just COVID, but a social model that has put more
pressure on two income parents and single parents.
Could you talk--and this is all in the context of since the
Affordable Care Act there has been a growing demand in requests
for services for mental health professionals, but a sort of
unfortunate decrease in young people going into the field. I
recently met with a couple of recent psychologists who had
$300,000.00 in student debt, and they are under that pressure.
Dr. Samuel, in emotional, social engagement, how do we
provide the services of this environment that we all recognize
have been fortunately the stigma has been moved dramatically,
that is the good news, but we have to deploy these services.
Could you speak to that.
Ms. Samuel. Yes. I hear that you are concerned about the
mental health of our educators, and I want to underscore the
saying that it takes a village to raise a child. Right now, we
talk about educating children, the entire village is enduring
some kind of stress which you have mentioned.
Whether it is students, parents, the school personnel,
everybody who touched children, communities, they are under
stress, which is why it is so important to focus on not only
the social, emotional needs of our kids, but our educators and
school personnel.
We know that when we focus on adult SEL in our educators,
they can teach more effectively. They model the behaviors that
we want from our kids. They are able to build and maintain
stronger relationships, and we know relationships are a key
proxy to engagement.
They are able to demonstrate more patience and empathy for
their kids, and they are less likely to report burnout. We have
to holistically consider the needs of our adults and kids.
Mr. DeSaulnier. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I yield back.
Mr. Bowman. Thank you very much. Mr. Jacobs is now
recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Jacobs. Thank you very much, and thank you for the
panelists here, very informative. Dr. Schwinn, I just wondered
if you would mind elaborating a bit on the success, or what you
have been doing in terms of the tutoring the children. I think
that is an interesting approach.
Ms. Schwinn. Thank you, sir, absolutely. We started
Tennessee All Core, that was part of legislation that was
passed in January 2021. It has several parts, the first are
grants to school districts, it is matching grants to provide
high dosage tutoring. That is one to three students maximum for
30 to 45 minutes, two to three times per week.
We have funded enough for 150,000 seats. That is now
sustained in our new funding formula forevermore because we
have seen such powerful impacts. The second is community grants
for those districts that are not participating. We have
provided additional funding for community organizations to
provide that same high dosage low ratio tutoring.
We have provided micro grants for 14,000 families in low-
income communities, specific to early literacy, tutoring and
instruction, so that we can ensure those students most
impacted, negatively impacted by the pandemic in schools that
were not open for in person instruction can get that in
partnership with our families.
Then finally we are offering free online, on demand
tutoring for high school students, so that they are not pulled
out of classes. They can still participate in after school
programs and receive tutoring in the exact and specific area
that they need help with, whenever it is that they need that
help and assistance to ensure we have a pre-K through 12th
grade approach.
We expected to serve over 200,000 students in a State that
is about 965,000 in terms of enrollment.
Mr. Jacobs. Is this typically after school you are doing
this? Is that?
Ms. Schwinn. We have multiple programs. We have actually
seen the most strategic place for us is in school. It is also a
strategy for addressing the teacher shortage issue. Our
districts are hiring full-time credentialled teachers,
sometimes retirees or career changers.
They are then doing the tutoring during their intervention
block, in very, very small group instruction. I will call out
though that we have a great example in Union County for after
school programming, where they are retired or existing teachers
tutoring their own students, or their students from the prior
year.
They already have relationships with the families, and they
actually schedule the tutoring sessions in partnership with
families, so the trust is there. The tutor is very well
trained, certainly is a certified teacher. They are compensated
well above and beyond what they would normally get in terms of
their salary, and they already have those strong relationships
and knowledge base, so there is consistency with the curriculum
and the approach at that specific school site.
Mr. Jacobs. Is there any evaluation you were going to be
doing to see the impact?
Ms. Schwinn. Absolutely. In English language arts, we look
at their benchmark assessments. We also have a relationship
with Zearn, so we get that data in actually on a monthly basis.
We look at what practices are showing very strong acceleration
at the school level, at the district level, and then actually
with individual students.
Our team goes into districts and partnerships with them in
our networks. We have tutoring networks that are starting this
year to be able to evaluate the data, make adjustments on what
is working, what is not working, so that we can see that
accelerated growth in every program.
Districts also work very closely with one another. We are a
very collegial State, so our regions meet monthly to talk about
problems of practice and ensure that the implementation is of
the highest quality.
Mr. Jacobs. Did you do anything over the summer?
Ms. Schwinn. Yes. It is year-round, so we have a summer
program that is now codified in law forevermore. It is four to
6 weeks of additional instruction for students prioritizing
those that are economically disadvantaged, students with
disabilities, or those that are not at grade level proficiency.
That high dosage tutoring model is also part of that summer
instruction.
Mr. Jacobs. Oh, that is great. I was on the Buffalo School
Board, and for a period of time we did summer programming to
try to combat the significant learning loss, and I do not think
it was as well structured as what you are describing, but it
was effective. Unfortunately, we did not have the resources to
continue it, but thank you very much and I yield back.
Ms. Schwinn. Thank you.
Mr. Bowman. Thank you very much. The Chair now recognizes
himself for 5 minutes. I want to start with Dr. Samuel. First
of all, thank you to all our witnesses for being here. Dr.
Samuel, can you operationalize social and emotional learning
for me? What does it look like day to day in our schools, and
why is it so important to implement social and emotional
learning as we seek to accelerate learning for all students?
Ms. Samuel. Thank you for that question. You know the
operationalizing SEL, you know, like I said it is not a one
size approach, but I can give you a couple of examples of how
it might play out. You know, there has been a lot of
conversation around the role of SEL in math, let us take that
as an example.
If you have an algebra teacher who is teaching a really
complex, multiple step problem, one way that teacher can
operationalize SEL in their classroom is by putting the problem
in front of the students and asking them first to think
independently about the problem. Then as students are thinking
independently, they have developed their own perspective.
Then, bringing those groups together so students can talk
about the various approaches to solve that math problem. What
that is doing is opening up conversation and dialog for kids to
understand different perspectives.
We are still dealing with the content, which is algebra. We
are still dealing with multiple step complex problems, but we
are bringing students together to understand different
perspectives, which is also what we need in the workplace.
Then helping students share and analyze that data to then
be able to come up with their response. Social emotional
learning is interwoven into that entire academic instruction.
We can talk about it as far as relationships. We know one thing
that is super important for kids is they want to make friends.
How do we help kids in these social settings talk about
different perspectives, be able to create and foster these
strong relationships, which we know they will need. I think it
is also important to understand that social emotional learning
looks different depending on where you are on the developmental
continuum.
The conversation with elementary might be different than
high school. Really just can take a wide variety of approaches
and strategies, which is why it is so important to ensure that
our educators also have these skills to be able to explicitly
intertwine them into instruction, but also be able to foster
these opportunities in more informal ways as well.
Mr. Bowman. You mentioned earlier how 92 percent of
executives are looking for employees who have emotional
intelligence, strong emotional intelligence. In your response
there you identified other 21st century skills as well, the
skills of curiosity, the skills of creativity, the skills of
collaborative problem solving, the skills of communication.
As a former educator, I have often been frustrated by how
our annual standardized tests do not measure these skills. As
we think of the evolution of public schools going forward, how
might schools do better to ensure that we are teaching 21st
century skills in our schools, and using formative, on the
ground school assessment approaches, to enhance these skills in
our students?
Ms. Samuel. Thank you for that question and also making the
connection to so many of the skills that we are talking about.
I believe Dr. Schwinn also talked about the importance of
innovation, and we should holistically be thinking about
innovation in education.
One of the things we are doing at CASEL is looking at
aligning our workforce and SEL efforts, so that we can help
make those intentional connections on what these skills mean
for not just education, but also into the workforce. It is
really important to think about how we are embedding these
skills, not only in the K-12 setting, but then also as we think
about college and career. It is time for us to think about
innovation.
I will also say that we are seeing states in some districts
begin to use school climate data and other components to talk
about their social emotional approaches, and see how students
are feeling.
Mr. Bowman. Absolutely. Thank you for that response. I also
want to add the importance of project-based learning being
implemented in our schools as well, which encourages students
working together to solve problems, and create a project that
meets the needs of not just school, but the larger community.
Ms. Jordan, would you like to add anything regarding
teaching curiosity and creativity and collaborative learning in
our schools? I know we only got about 20 seconds, but would you
like to add anything now?
Ms. Jordan. Well I will say that I was just looking in our
data, about a third of the school districts are spending on
social, emotional learning, either to do training for teachers,
to bringing curriculum or materials. We see more than a third
are bringing in school psychologists, or social workers, or
mental health professionals of some sort, so that they have
that deeper support.
A lot of districts are investing in multi-tiered systems of
support, which provide you know for all the kids, a certain
level of comfort and social emotional learning for kids who are
having problems, some targeted support. For kids who really
need wrap around services, they are providing those as well. We
are seeing extensive investment in that work in these ESSER
plans.
Mr. Bowman. Thank you so much. Mr. Cawthorn from North
Carolina is now recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Cawthorn. Thanks. Thank you, Chairman, and thank you
Ranking Member Owens, I really appreciate your leadership in
the subcommittee. To all our witnesses thank you very much. Dr.
Schwinn, my question is for you. Due to government regulations
and shutdowns during the pandemic, students were forced to be
removed from in-person learning.
Consequentially, reading scores are down, and the largest
average decline since 1990, and the first ever decline in math.
You mentioned tutoring. I am assuming this is out of school
tutoring, correct?
Ms. Schwinn. It is both in school and out of school.
Mr. Cawthorn. Understood. Students already are in school
for around 7 hours a day. Do you have other implementations and
strategies that have been proven to be successful during the
course of the day that could help maximize the time that they
are already spending during the school day, instead of
additional time added on to the end of the school day?
Ms. Schwinn. Absolutely, and I think that is why our
approach has shifted from before and after school tutoring to
during school tutoring because we certainly know that
especially in this elementary school grade, seven--seven and a
half hours is a long day for some. I have got little kids at
home.
One of the things that we did is we worked directly with
school districts, and specific schools and school leaders to
redesign the school schedule. We have a block that responds to
intervention. That block is about 45 minutes, so we are now
using high dosage tutoring within that block.
The other thing that we are doing is we are working
directly with families. We know that families have prioritized
their students' overall well-being, health, and certainly
academic outcomes. A lot of our families are looking at out of
school time that makes sense for their schedules.
The last thing I will say is that it is also about what we
are teaching within the blocks of time that we have. Our focus
on systemic bumps, systematic phonics instruction, and the
science of reading, ensuring every child is reading on grade
level by third grade will remain a strong priority in the State
of Tennessee because we know that changes lives, and that is
actually what we really need to make sure those minutes matter
as much as anything else.
Mr. Cawthorn. Well Dr. Schwinn, I think that is an
incredibly holistic approach, and you know that actually
answered my second question as well, so I really do appreciate
your time. I appreciate your wisdom, and what you are doing in
Tennessee I think is a great way to try and make up for the
lost time we have for in-person learning, and with that I yield
back.
Ms. Schwinn. Thank you, sir.
Chairman Sablan. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr.
Cawthorn. I would now like to recognize Mr. Sempolinski from
New York, the gentleman from New York.
Mr. Sempolinski. Thank you, Chairman. As this is my first
subcommittee hearing, I just want to comment how happy I am
going to be on this subcommittee. Frankly, I think it is the
most important subcommittee on Capitol Hill right now coming
out of this COVID pandemic, and all the issues that we are
dealing with, what the parents are facing right now.
The Chairman and the Ranking Member, thanks for having me
on the committee. My wife, Angie, is a schoolteacher who had to
teach through hybrid learning through the pandemic. She would
see half her students 1 day, while the other half is at home,
playing video games, or with their computers on mute.
The next day those groups would change places. She was in
the classroom. She would have the different kids that were not
there before, and so you are effectively cutting their learning
time in education for that particular school year in half.
We now know that there were a number of factors that
contributed to the COVID learning gap, but despite millions and
millions of dollars being poured into schools at the behest of
the American Federation of Teachers, we still have record low
test scores in comprehension.
America is falling behind. We still need answers. Frankly,
during my first markup last week as I am the most junior member
of the House of Representatives, so my first markup last week I
was stunned to watch as my friends on the other side of the
aisle blocked efforts by this committee to find out where all
this money has gone, what collusion happened, and whether any
of this is actually helping our kids.
My question is for Dr. Schwinn. You indicated in your
written testimony that your State was using summer programming
and tutoring to combat learning loss in 2020 and 2021, answered
some questions about that.
I am interested to hear more of your thoughts on how these
and other supplementary programs, may be used to help our
children recover what they have lost--education, mental,
social, health--because of all the harmful effects of
shutdowns, mask mandates, and quarantines.
Ms. Schwinn. Thank you for the question. What I want to
start by saying is certainly that we could not do this without
the exceptional folks in our school buildings, districts, or
community partners, and that this is really hard. We have taken
an approach of going deep in a few areas as opposed to kind of
throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks.
We focused on academics. Early literacy is an absolutely
priority in the State of Tennessee in ensuring that we have a
comprehensive approach where everyone is able to contribute to
ensuring every child is reading on grade level by third grade.
I think second is high dosage tutoring, which I have spoken
to in terms of the scale and depth of that programing.
Something I have not talked about though is really looking at
innovative middle school and high school models.
We know that we have to ensure that our pre-K through 12th
grade programs are all exceptional, and that our middle and
high school students who saw some of the most negative impacts
because of that social development, that they did not get if
they were not in in person instruction.
They need to be part of the programs that are going to help
them to the jobs of careers that they choose for themselves
after graduation. Then finally, I think that our working Grow
Your Own and the teacher apprenticeship work is incredibly
important. We have about 1,000 vacancies in the State of
Tennessee.
Our Grow Your Own work is filling 650 of them within the
first 3 years, as well as ensuring that 5,000 additional
teachers are able to have credentials in other areas that are
high needs, such as special education, English as a second
language, and mathematics and science.
Mr. Sempolinski. My final question is as a--I also direct
it to Dr. Schwinn, as an education professional, what would you
say, just your assessment overall, just how permanent the
effects of the pandemic will be on this cohort of students as
they move forward through the rest of their lives?
Ms. Schwinn. I will say that we have a once in a lifetime
opportunity right now to do the right thing for kids. We have
an extraordinary amount of funding, and I think that with that
funding that came in we have a responsibility to spend it well,
and really hold ourselves accountable to the outcomes of that
funding.
In Tennessee we are using that specifically to ensure that
every single student has access to an education that is at and
above the quality they would have received otherwise. We are
measuring our progress, not by growth from last year, we are
looking at what the growth would have been year over year
before the pandemic, and then seeing when we are looking at
2025 and 2026.
Did we see that students are actually where they would have
been had the pandemic never happened? That is our baseline
measure of what we need to expect out of ourselves in order to
ensure that our students are not negatively impacted. Based on
the rate of growth that we are seeing in Tennessee, I am
confident that our teachers, our principals, our school
communities, are getting that done.
They are doing that with hard work. They are doing that
frankly with pure grit and determination, but it is also a very
strategic use of spending dollars in a way that is going to
invest in children because that needs to be our No. 1 priority
at all times.
Mr. Sempolinski. I just want to reemphasize what you just
said, and correct me if I am wrong when you said it. To catch
up to where they would be otherwise is an extraordinary amount
of effort on behalf of everybody in your department, and
teachers and the staff and everybody that is involved in
educating the students in your state?
Ms. Schwinn. Absolutely, without question.
Mr. Sempolinski. Alright. I yield back.
Chairman Sablan. I thank the gentleman from New York, and I
also welcome him to the subcommittee. Thank you very much. Now
for all your patience, I recognize the gentlelady from Oregon,
Ms. Bonamici for 5 minutes please.
Ms. Bonamici. Thank you so much, Chair Sablan for holding
this important hearing. I want to start by responding briefly
to my colleague from Georgia. I am sorry he is not here
anymore. Representative Allen compared the U.S. test scores for
students in the United States with test scores of students in
other countries, and asked what we could do.
Well, I have a couple suggestions. We could start by
joining essentially every other industrialized nation and offer
paid family leave. Other countries have weeks, months, or up to
a year of paid family leave. The U.S. in the United States,
less than 15 percent of families have access to paid family
leave.
I invite my colleague to join me in getting that passed.
Additionally, many of those other countries have universal
healthcare. They also have many, if not most of them,
affordable high-quality childcare and access to quality early
childhood education. Those policies make a tremendous
difference in the overall educational career of students.
I have long been, and back to the topic at hand, but I
thought those were important points to raise. I have long been
a proponent of whole child education because it includes
social, emotional and mental physical, as well as cognitive
development of students.
I thank my colleague Representative McBath for pointing out
the importance of child nutrition, an issue that we work on the
subcommittee I chair, Civil Rights and Human Services. This
whole child approach involves a team approach, teachers and
parents, administrators, counselors, community organizations,
social workers.
In the district I represent in Northwest Oregon, school
districts have been intentional about social and emotional
learning during the pandemic. In the recovery they have hired
more school counselors in Washington County. They have
committed American Rescue Plan funding toward mental and
behavioral health support in the Portland Public School
District.
I want to ask Dr. Samuel, we know the significant mental
and emotional toll of the pandemic has been increasingly clear
as students are especially all returning for in-person
learning, and those programs that are designed to address a
student's social, emotional, and academic development.
We know they can help equip educators with the skills and
resources necessary to better address those complex and
evolving needs of their students. The whole child approach to
education is especially important, as students continue to
recover. I also want to put a plug in for my Arts Education for
All legislation.
We know art helps heal. We use it with veterans. It can
help students as well. Dr. Samuel, how could social emotional
learning initiatives not only help children, students, but also
how can educators get the skills and resources needed to
address a complex student's needs?
How can schools and districts best prepare and support
educators to teach students their social and emotional skills
they need, and integrate them into teaching those skills into
other aspects of the curriculum?
Ms. Samuel. Thank you for that question, and I just wanted
to also acknowledge in making a reference to all the other
supports that other countries have in place. I also want to
underscore the international interest we have received on
social emotional learning. In just the last month, we have had
over half a dozen countries reach out to us at CASEL inquiring
about social emotional learning, and how they can implement
social and emotional learning countrywide.
It is important to note that this is not just an issue here
in the United States, but this is truly a global issue. We
should be paying close attention to ensure that our children
can compete, not just here in the U.S., but globally as well.
Going back to your question, social and emotional learning
does not just support students' academic learning. We know it
helps teachers in the classroom, which is why we really need to
be thinking about preservice and in-service sides of teaching,
and how we can ensure the right teacher preparation program for
our educators, but then also the right level of professional
development for them as they are learning SEL, and wanting to
ensure the implementation of these programs in their districts.
Many of the districts that we work with have embedded
social emotional learning throughout their staff roles, and it
is important to note it is not just the educator, but all staff
roles, which mean all personnel, whether it is the bus driver,
school nutrition, the classroom teacher, the office manager,
are all trained in SEL as part of their onboarding and ongoing
professional learning because we know that kids have
relationships within buildings that go beyond just the
classroom teacher.
We also know they are embedding social emotional learning
into some of their recruitment efforts, job description,
interview questions. It is important that we note that in order
to build educator excellence and staff retention, social
emotional learning plays a key role.
Ms. Bonamici. Thank you. My time is about to expire, so I
do have a followup question about NAEP that I am going to ask
Ms. Jordan to followup with that, and I may also followup as
you mentioned Dr. Samuels, the importance of teachers being
prepared for social emotional learning about what is happening
in educator programs in higher education, so my time is
expired, I yield back. Thank you again, Mr. Chairman for
allowing me to join in.
Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Ms. Bonamici. Thank you for
your patience. Now having all member questions being asked, I
remind my colleagues that pursuant to committee practice,
materials for submission for the hearing record must be
submitted to the committee clerk within 14 days following the
last day of the hearing, so by close of business on October 4,
2022, preferably Microsoft Word format.
The materials submitted must address the subject matter of
the hearing. Only a member of the subcommittee or an invited
witness may submit materials for inclusion in the hearing
record. Documents are limited to 50 pages each. Documents
longer than 50 pages will be incorporated into the record via
an internet link that you must provide to the committee clerk
within the required timeframe, but please recognize that in the
future that link may no longer work. Pursuant to House Rules
and Regulations, items for the record should be submitted to
the clerk electronically by emailing submissions to
[email protected], so that is
[email protected].
Now, again I want to thank all of our witnesses for their
participation today. Members of the subcommittee may have some
additional questions for you, and we ask the witnesses please
respond to those questions in writing. The hearing record will
be held open for 14 days in order to receive those responses.
I remind my colleagues that pursuant to committee practice,
witness questions for the hearing record must be submitted to
the majority committee staff or committee clerk within 7 days.
The questions submitted must address the subject matter of the
hearing.
I now recognize the distinguished Ranking Member Mr. Owens
for a closing statement. Thank you.
Mr. Owens. Thank you again to all the witnesses. I really
appreciate it. You know what I love about our system in this
country is that our states do serve as laboratories. We get
Americans that are all in the things we could come up with
innovative wise is remarkable.
We used a couple words pure grit, and I just want to say
that this is truly an opportunity of a lifetime for us to show
pure grit, to make sure all our kids are coming out of this
process, and no one is left behind as we go into the future. I
see innovation, I see a collaboration, teachers that are truly
all in. They love what they do.
They need to be compensated to make sure that we get the
best, keep the best. This is a moment that if we take advantage
of this and bring our kids back to set up a system in which
from this point on, we do not trail anyone around the world, so
I want to thank everyone who is taking part in this process,
those who love our kids and this profession.
This is a profession that truly needs to again step up.
This is going to be our future, and I look forward to working
with you guys as much as we can to make sure that happens.
Thanks so much for your participation.
Chairman Sablan. Yes, thank you Mr. Owens. I now recognize
myself for the purpose of making my closing statement. Well
thank you again to our witnesses for your time and testimony. I
thank all my colleagues for joining us today. Democrats know
that to fully recover from the pandemic, students need more
time in the classroom, and access to social and emotional
support.
Educators need more resources, like school psychologists,
and classroom aides, and to ensure every study succeeds parents
need to be partners in their child's education, very much
important. Today our witnesses made clear that we need to make
sure that thanks to the investments made by congressional
Democrats and President Biden, school districts have resources
to meet those needs and get back on track.
There are so many interesting stories coming out today, but
all of them were based that the money was there to implement
them. Let us not forget that basic. So regrettably, well
instead of delivering what students and parents and educators
need, some of my colleagues have been--some of the Republicans
have been banning books, punishing educators, diverting
valuable time and resources away from the classroom.
As I have said earlier, we, the Democrats are committed to
putting politics aside, delivering sustained funding to help
schools, particularly in communities with the greatest need.
Thank you again for our witnesses for your time, and all you do
on behalf of our Nation's students. If there is no further
business without objection the subcommittee stands adjourned.
Thank you.
[Whereupon, 12:34 p.m., the subcommittee adjourned.]
[Additional submissions from Chairman Sablan follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[Questions and responses for the record by Dr. Blomstedt
follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[Questions and responses for the record by Ms. Jordan
follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[Questions and responses for the record by Dr. Samuel
follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[Questions and responses for the record by Dr. Schwinn
follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[all]