Key Members of New Jersey Business Community Endorse Sherrill’s Bipartisan High-Impact Tutoring Legislation

Bill Aimed at Addressing Pandemic-Related Learning Loss Amongst K-12 Students

Parsippany, NJ –– The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, New Jersey Business and Industry Association (NJBIA), and New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program (NJMEP) have endorsed Rep. Mikie Sherrill’s bipartisan Expanding Access to High-Impact Tutoring Act. In their support of this legislation, these business organizations and advocacy groups underscored the critical need for federal investment now in public education to ensure pandemic-related learning loss does not have lasting detriments to New Jersey’s economic future and the potential of our workforce.

“Due to no fault of their own, many students, the future workforce of New Jersey and our country, fell behind significantly in their educations during the pandemic. The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce applauds Rep. Mikie Sherrill for introducing the Expanding Access to High-Impact Tutoring Act which will provide these impacted students with extra instruction and coaching so they can catch up academically and build necessary workforce skills,” said Tom Bracken, President and CEO of the NJ Chamber of Commerce. “This is especially important as jobs become more complex and require higher degrees of education or vocational training. The success of our economy and position as a global economic leader depends on properly addressing the urgent needs of a whole generation of students who lost out on academic and social opportunities due to the pandemic.”

“Education is at the center of talent and workforce development. The Expanding Access to High-Impact Tutoring Act demonstrates practical and efficient use of American Rescue Plan resources to execute successful solutions to addressing learning loss due to COVID-19,” said Michele Siekerka, President and CEO of NJBIA. “This plan will offer states a jumpstart investment to develop high-impact tutoring programs that provide the next generation of talent with the tools they need to succeed in the 21st century workforce and beyond.”

“The phrase ‘children are our future’ should not be taken lightly. They are our future leaders, inventors, and creators. COVID-19 was a massive disruption to our student’s education and schools are finding it incredibly difficult to support all the children that need their help to catch up with their current resources,” said Peter Connolly, CEO of NJMEP. “Giving these schools the means to create intensive, high-dosage tutoring programs for their students could have a dramatic impact on our entire country. When our children thrive, our nation thrives. The Expanding Access to High-Impact Tutoring Act and its plan to deliver this hands-on support will alter the trajectory of the students’ futures that have been so negatively impacted by COVID-19. Industries like manufacturing are only becoming more and more complex, requiring advanced skill sets and mathematics knowledge. As the industry becomes a more popular career choice because of the incredible career opportunities it offers, we want to make sure students are ready to take on these roles as they progress through their educational journey.”

The Expanding Access to High-Impact Tutoring Act would provide grant funding to States to help them implement and administer high-quality tutoring programs in K-12 school districts, and also provides resources for the Department of Education and States to develop a nationwide tutoring workforce. Individualized, high-dosage tutoring programs have consistently been found by high-quality evaluations to be among the largest impact educational interventions available to students, parents, and teachers. An amendment funding the implementation of high-impact tutoring grant programs, submitted by Rep. Sherrill, was adopted in the FY2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.

Across four large-scale literature reviews of high-impact tutoring that together cover more than 100 studies, one-year of tutoring has been found to increase student achievement by the

equivalent of 0.8 school years’ worth of learning. This means that a student enrolled in their typical K-12 school with access to high-impact tutoring will learn almost a full school years’ worth of material more than a similar student who doesn’t have access to this tutoring.

This large improvement in students’ academic achievement has a major impact on their ability to get good-paying jobs after graduation, and will strongly support businesses in filling open positions given the historic workforce that our economy has faced. One additional school years’ worth of learning is estimated to increase adult earnings at age 27 by about $2,300 annually. The learning gains of 0.8 school years from high-impact tutoring therefore is likely to increase adults’ income levels by over $1,800 each year. This would imply a benefit-cost ratio of about 5- to-1 from income gains alone.

The Expanding Access to High-Impact Tutoring Act is also endorsed by a large number of teachers and education advocacy organizations, including the National Education Association, New Jersey Education Association, New Jersey Association of School Administrators, New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association, Teach for America, Third Way, Saga Education, New Jersey Tutoring Corps, Results for America, America Forward, ProvenTutoring, Accelerate, and Innovate.

The bill was introduced by Rep. Sherrill and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC-01) and has 14 bipartisan co-sponsors, including Reps. Colin Allred (D-TX-32), Don Davis (D-NC-01), Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY-04), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA-01), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ-05), Derek Kilmer (D-WA-06), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-08), Annie Kuster (D-NH-02), Nancy Mace (R-SC-01), Rob Menendez (D-NJ-08), David Scott (D-GA-13), Terri Sewell (D-AL-07), Shri Thanedar (D-MI-13), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ-12).