NORFOLK, Va. — Virginia families could get some monetary help to assist their children with pandemic learning loss.
Governor Glenn Youngkin announced the upcoming release of $30 million in Learning Recovery Grants to parents to be used for qualifying education services intended to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students’ educational progress and well-being.
Qualifying students whose family income does not exceed 300% of the Federal Poverty Level will receive a $3,000 K-12 Learning Recovery Grant; all other qualifying students will receive a $1,500 K-12 Learning Recovery Grant.
This move comes months after the National Assessment of Education Process (NAEP) gave Virginia lower scores in several fields.
NAEP results showed that Virginia is failing students, including fourth graders, who showed the largest decline nationwide in math and reading scores between 2017 and 2022.
Helen Pryor, president of Norfolk's Education Association, said while she applauds the move, it also comes a little late.
"We needed this sooner. We have been talking about needing this for months now. We have been back in the classroom for nearly two years now and these test scores have still not come up to where they need to be," said Pryor. "It just goes to show the significant learning loss we have."
The governor also announced the unveiling of Virginia’s Visualization and Analytics Solution. This an online platform intended to give parents and teachers data to help them address individual student learning loss.
While the online platform is already operational, a spokesperson for the governor's office did not give details yet on when the application process for the grant money would begin for Virginia families.