TRENTON Consecutive school years upended by the coronavirus pandemic have state lawmakers considering drastic steps to help students catch up, such as widespread summer school and giving parents the option to have their child repeat a grade.
The ideas remain mostly conceptual, though the Assembly Education Committee endorsed a bill Monday creating an Alleviating Learning Loss in New Jersey grant program that would help pay for learning and support programs in the summer of 2021 and 2021-22 school year. Funds would come from federal aid, though none are specifically allocated in the bill.
Sen. Teresa Ruiz, D-Essex, said the goal is to see “how we can alleviate some of this without just losing another year.” She said data is needed to understand how students are faring, both academically and in terms of social-emotional learning.