State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Continues Learning Acceleration Work with Second Webinar to Help Schools Utilize Billions in State Support to Accelerate Student Learning and Recovery

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond today hosted a webinar for local educational agencies (LEAs) to walk through the requirements of the new Learning Recovery Emergency Block Grant (LREBG) and discuss data practices and resources. Nearly 1,000 school administrators, educators, and education partners participated in the webinar, the second in a series of virtual webinars to update LEAs on learning acceleration and ways schools are using billions of dollars in state funding to address learning loss from the pandemic. The first webinar was held October 11.

During the event, Thurmond was joined by district and state education leaders, including Cheryl Cotton, Deputy Superintendent of the California Department of Education (CDE) Instruction, Measurement, and Administration Branch; Jennifer Cisneros, Director of Expanded Learning at Santa Ana Unified School District (USD); Ana Applegate, Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services at San Bernardino City USD; Sonia Llamas, Assistant Superintendent at Santa Ana USD; and Dr. Ingrid Roberson, Assistant Director of Research and Learning at the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE).

“We are focused on helping our schools make the best use of the $11 billion in one-time state block grants by leading the implementation of our Accelerated Learning initiative in California at a time when resources have never been more urgently needed,” Thurmond said. “Right now, we are doubling down on the promise we made to California students and their families, leveraging expertise and resources to make a difference now and into the next decade.”

The new state budget includes $7.9 billion for learning recovery, specifically, one-time funds to be used through 2027–28 on strategies to support academic learning recovery, along with staff and student social and emotional well-being following two-and-a-half challenging years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additional resources for districts to support these efforts include an extra $3 billion for Expanded Learning, for an ongoing total of $4 billion, to increase the time during the school year, summer school, and intersessional programs, decreasing staff-to-pupil ratios, and $250 million to develop literacy programs and hire and train reading and literacy coaches and specialists.

The webinar featured presentations from school districts on strategies to utilize funding to support learning acceleration and recovery for students at their respective districts. Sonia Llamas and Jennifer Cisneros from Santa Ana USD addressed academic enrichment, tutoring, sports leagues, community provider enrichment, service learning, leadership, and mentoring, while Ana Applegate of San Bernardino City USD addressed an afternoon STEAM program, a summer program, and family engagement.

The CDE has also created an online resource for LEAs to support their efforts to promote learning recovery and acceleration. This CDE Learning Acceleration and Recovery Resources web page centralizes information for programs that can be used to support learning recovery efforts. It also includes several highlights of what LEAs have done with these and other funding sources to promote learning recovery. These LEA success stories can be used to inform other LEAs as they create their own learning recovery programs.

Stay tuned, as the CDE will host future webinars on this topic. The CDE Facebook page hosts full recordings of the November 10 Learning Recovery Emergency Block Grant webinar and the October 11 Learning Acceleration webinar .

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Tony Thurmond — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100