LOUISVILLE, Ky. — As the coronavirus impacts schools and learning, parents are seeking out help for their children.
What You Need To Know
- Parents turn to tutoring during adjustment to online learning
- Huntington Learning Center sees increase in demand for personalized help, especially in math, reading
- Educational organization warns about COVID-19 Slide impacting student learning during pandemic
Tutoring services like Huntington Learning Center are experiencing an increase in demand for personalized help for students in grades K-12, especially in math and reading. The center director doesn't expect the demand to drop as kids in Louisville will resume non-traditional instruction (NTI) this fall.
Huntington Learning Center Director Susan Arterburn is a parent herself.
"We've definitely seen an increase and even a change in what parents are looking for," she explained.
The center offers help from certified tutors in-person and virtually, providing services like study hall, homework help, or SAT/ACT practice.
"The biggest impact that I feel comes from our parents' concerns," Arterburn continued. "I think they feel like, and they're seeing, maybe even that academic stamina is a little bit lower," because of the at-home learning they've endured over several months rather than experiencing face-to-face instruction.
According to the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), which assesses academics for students in K-12, there's likely a 'COVID-19 slide.' The organization says students could resume learning this fall and retain just 70 percent of reading progress and less than 50 percent of math.
However, Beth Haraden is one parent who isn't so worried about a slide. Her lack of concern is due to the help her daughter has received at Huntington.
"It has helped my child immensely. Her vocabulary alone has just been exponentially helped. I think that things that she's been able to focus on the most that she's needing is her comprehension skills," said Haraden. "I'm feeling confident."
As a parent and center director, Arterburn adds her advice for any concerned parents to reach out for help.
Meanwhile, the Jefferson County School Superintendent says he is working to open "learning hubs" for the fall as NTI resumes. Dr. Marty Pollio hopes these spaces can be used for in-person study halls. He's working with community partners to coordinate these.