SAN TAN VALLEY, Ariz. — Eighth-grader Aitana Jones will never forget that week in March of 2020 when her school closed.
“It was always quiet in the house. It was a really rough time,” Jones said.
Four years after COVID lockdowns sent students home across the state, educators are trying to use lessons from the pandemic to enhance learning and close academic gaps.
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In the Combs Unified School District where Jones attends, that includes the implementation of an online tutoring platform, Paper.
Like schools across the country, the pandemic prompted the San Tan area district to add a layer of technology in the form of laptops for every middle school student. The Paper program allows students to communicate by text with a certified teacher online, day and night.
“It’s always nice to just be able to go onto a website and pull up a “Paper” tutor and they usually answer really fast,” Jones said.
Combs Middle School English teacher Maggie Wooton credits the program for allowing her to spend more time in class personally assisting struggling students.
“The higher fliers can work with a ‘Paper’ tutor to get specific help if they need it,” Wooton said.
A case study by the district showed students used the program to assist them with more than 2,000 essays and 7,800 “learning activities”.
The service costs the district $79,000 this year, said Superintendent Greg Wyman.
“The tutors don’t just give kids the answers. They help students work their way through problems,” Wyman said.
The service includes tutors who speak other languages, which comes in handy for students whose parents speak Spanish at home.
Wyman says the tool is part of a broader effort by the district to address learning loss.
“In the three years since Covid we saw a rebound in scores,” said Wyman. “The scores have not reached the pre-Covid scores for the most part, but the gap did shrink last year.”
Eighth-grader Garrett O’Brien said the program is “like having multiple teachers in one classroom.”
“It’s cool because I can make a certain bond with someone who might be across the country,” O’Brien said.
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