The COVID-19 pandemic has set back learning for millions of students and compounded educational inequities in our nation’s schools. Data suggest that the pandemic is disproportionately harming Black, Latinx, and low-income students.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Deans for Impact and its national network of educator-preparation programs have advocated for the important role of future teachers in addressing educational inequities and supporting students, especially the most vulnerable.
That’s why we’re thrilled by the recent introduction of the bipartisan “Partnering Aspiring Teachers with High-Need Schools (PATHS) to Tutor Act,” federal legislation that would mobilize future teachers as tutors in high-need or hard-to-staff schools. It would expand access to high-quality tutoring through a $500 million competitive grant program disbursed to local partnerships of educator-preparation programs, K-12 schools, and community organizations (e.g. Boys & Girls Clubs).