EP. 16: The Power of Community: Addressing COVID Slide

Photo courtesy of Adeola Whitney

Researchers and education advocates have shared that by the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, many students will be at least half a grade level behind. This statistic only worsens for students of color – particularly Black, Latinx and Indigenous students – and students in low-income, rural, and/or public schools.

This “COVID Slide” threatens to exacerbate already-existing educational inequities and keeps marginalized students at a disadvantage. Reading Partners, an early literacy non-profit, aims to mitigate these inequities through one-on-one literacy tutoring to underserved students – a mission that has only been solidified since the onset of the pandemic.

Reading Partners’ CEO Adeola Whitney joins Kési Felton, founder of Better to Speak, for the first interview of season two of The Podcast. Here, they discuss COVID slide and the power of community and literacy to mitigate its effects.

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Stay Connected to Reading Partners:

• Twitter: @readingpartners 

• Instagram: @readingpartners

• Facebook: facebook.com/ReadingPartners.org 

• Website: www.readingpartners.org

Stay Connected to Better to Speak:

• Twitter: @BetterToSpeak_

• Instagram: @bettertospeak_

• Facebook: facebook.com/bettertospeak

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/bettertospeak

• Website: bettertospeak.org 

Learn More + Take Action:

• Become a Reading Partners volunteer!

• When Covid-19 closed schools, Black, Hispanic and poor kids took biggest hit in math, reading

• Mind the gap: COVID-19 is widening racial disparities in learning, so students need help and a chance to catch up

• Report: Steeper COVID slide expected in math than reading

• Just-in-Time vs. Just-in-Case Scaffolding: How to Foster Productive Perseverance

Read the Transcript: 

The transcript for this episode is coming soon!