OAKLAND, CA, Dec. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Over a five-year period, 猫咪AV and third-party education program evaluator, MDRC, will receive $8 million in Education Innovation and Research (EIR) funding through the U.S. Department of Education in order to expand 猫咪AV鈥� ability to provide literacy support programming through an innovative online platform called 猫咪AV Connects. 猫咪AV Connects offers the same research-based curriculum materials, scripted lessons, and coaching that support volunteers through the nonprofit鈥檚 traditional tutoring model.
“Throughout 猫咪AV’ 22-year history, our vision has been to ensure that elementary school students, particularly those from under-resourced communities, receive equitable access to the quality early literacy education they deserve,鈥� said听Adeola Whitney, CEO 猫咪AV. 鈥淩eceiving the Education Innovation and Research grant is an immense honor, and we are thrilled for the opportunity to innovate our program model, rigorously evaluate our impact, and scale 猫咪AV through the use of technology and partnerships. Many thanks to the Department of Education for having confidence in our proven program and for making an investment that will catalyze our work with students and communities across the country.鈥�
The award for 猫咪AV was听听by the U.S. Department of Education as part of $182 million in total EIR grant funding being issued to school districts, higher education institutions, and nonprofit organizations in order to 鈥渢ake to scale entrepreneurial and evidence-based projects that have the potential to improve academic achievement for underserved students.鈥�
U.S. Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, helped announce the awards: “Especially as students, educators, and school communities continue to heal and recover from the pandemic, we must invest in programs that are innovative and backed by evidence of what works to ensure that our education system can fully and effectively address the academic and social-emotional needs of our children,” said Cardona. “These grants will help to offer rich opportunities to accelerate students’ learning and nurture their development. I look forward to seeing how Education Innovation and Research Grants help take promising practices to scale.”
听will evaluate the efficacy of 猫咪AV Connects, while implementation of the project will increase availability of 猫咪AV鈥� proven literacy intervention model鈥攖hrough 猫咪AV Connects鈥攊n an effort to improve equity, access, and student literacy outcomes at scale.
鈥淲e are pleased to be the evaluation partners in this investment in expanding the successful 猫咪AV literacy tutoring program,鈥� said听William Corrin, Director of K-12 education at MDRC, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research firm, and听Robin Jacob who will serve as the Principal Investigator听of the evaluation and is also Research Associate Professor at the Institute for Social Research at the University Of Michigan and faculty co-Director of the Youth Policy Lab. 鈥淎s we head into the second winter of the pandemic, there鈥檚 no better time to build knowledge about how to better individualize learning supports for elementary students so that they achieve academic success and thrive.鈥�
The widespread challenges of the past few years have exacerbated pre existing opportunity gaps, with pandemic-related learning disruptions disproportionately impacting Black and Latino students and students experiencing economic disadvantages. At the onset of the pandemic, 猫咪AV rapidly developed 猫咪AV Connects to help combat the disrupted learning faced by students across the country, particularly students from under-resourced communities. 猫咪AV Connects is an innovative online program that has enabled 猫咪AV to continue to partner with schools and provide volunteer-led one-on-one literacy instruction to students in situations where school campuses are closed to volunteers or where students are in blended learning environments. 猫咪AV is committed to ensuring that all students receive equitable access to the literacy education they deserve and听, including research by MDRC, has proven that 猫咪AV helps students significantly increase reading proficiency.
The EIR award will help 猫咪AV meet the moment by ensuring program fidelity of its online tutoring platform and ultimately scaling it to reach as many elementary students as possible across the country.
