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Reading Scholarship

Commentary and OpinionCustomizationEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation EquityEducation Savings AccountsFeaturedMicroschoolsParental ChoiceReading ScholarshipSchool Choice

podcastED: SUFS president Doug Tuthill interviews Central Florida Urban League leader Glen Gilzean

redefinED staff March 24, 2021
redefinED staff

On this episode, Tuthill speaks with president and CEO of the Central Florida Urban League about the work the organization is doing to empower the Black community through what Gilzean refers to as the three E’s – education, employment and entrepreneurship.

https://www.redefinedonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Glenn-Gilzean_EDIT.mp3

Gilzean, a former Pinellas County School Board member, has witnessed the devastating impacts of generational poverty. Both he and Tuthill believe giving parents flexibility and control over their education funding is critical to breaking that cycle.

The two discuss the Urban League’s plan to facilitate small learning pods known as micro-schools for the families it serves in the central Florida community and the potential for Senate Bill 48 to expand small learning environments to more families who presently can’t afford to leverage them, as well as the bill’s potential to drive creative, economic and entrepreneurial opportunity in the Black community.

“The bill does a lot of great things, but specifically for low-income Black folks, I think it will improve educational outcomes, the opportunity to employ individuals, and get people in the mindset of ‘I can do this, too; let me create a pod,’ so they can generate their own resources for the community.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

·       Gilzean’s background as a school board member and advocacy coordinator for Step Up For Students

·       How the Urban League collaborated with Orange County Schools to facilitate the Reading Scholarship, an education savings account for public school students struggling with reading

·       The Urban League’s plan to create micro-schools and school models to better serve students in juvenile detention

·       How micro-schools can drive community development and be an economic engine to counteract generational poverty

LINKS MENTIONED

Micro-schools could be answer for low-income Black students

March 24, 2021 0 comment
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Education ChoiceEducation EquityFamily Empowerment ScholarshipFeaturedFlorida Tax Credit ScholarshipGardiner ScholarshipHope ScholarshipNewsParental ChoicePrivate School ScholarshipsReading ScholarshipSchool ChoiceTax Credit Scholarships

Step Up For Students ranks 21st on Forbes’ list of top charities

Patrick R. Gibbons December 11, 2020
Patrick R. Gibbons

All students at each of three Academy Prep campuses — St. Petersburg, Tampa and Lakeland, Florida — attend on state scholarships administered by Step Up For Students.

Americans donated more than $450 billion to charities last year. Of that amount, $49.5 billion went to the top 100 charities, according to Forbes Magazine’s America’s Top Charities rankings.

Step Up for Students, a scholarship granting nonprofit that administers five school choice scholarship programs in Florida, ranked as the 21st largest nonprofit in America. Step Up, which raised $618 million in private donations last year and hosts this blog.

Step Up’s scholarship programs include the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for lower-income and working-class students, the Gardiner Scholarship for students with unique abilities, the Hope Scholarship for victims of bullying and harassment, the Reading Scholarship for public school students struggling with reading and literacy, and the Family Empowerment Scholarship for lower- and middle-class students.

Step Up’s goal for the fiscal year 2021 is to raise $700 million to fund the Florida Tax Credit and Hope Scholarship programs. The Gardiner Scholarship, Reading Scholarship and Family Empowerment Scholarship programs are funded by the Florida legislature, though Step Up advertises these scholarships, processes applications and helps manage accounts for Gardiner and Reading scholarship families.

Since offering the first scholarships during the 2002-03 school year, Step Up has awarded scholarships to more than 1 million students. The organization served more than 150,000 students during the 2020-21 school year.

December 11, 2020 0 comment
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Coronavirus / COVID-19FeaturedNewsPublic School ChoiceReading ScholarshipSchool Choice

NAACP, Urban League make use of Reading Scholarship Account to improve outcomes for low-income students

Lisa Buie October 20, 2020
Lisa Buie

Florida students who may have experienced learning loss due to COVID-19 got help recently from a pilot program made possible by a state scholarship aimed at helping public school students who struggle with reading.

The North Brevard NAACP, along with the Central Florida Urban League and Brevard Public Schools, partnered to launch a reading enrichment program powered by the state’s Reading Scholarship Account program at Mims Elementary, a Florida Space Coast school where at least 40% of students come from lower-income families.

The scholarship accounts, valued at $500 per student, are available for students in grades 3 through 5 who are enrolled in a Florida public school and scored below a Level 3 on the grade 3 or grade 4 statewide, standardized English Language Arts assessment in the prior school year.

Families can use the money for instructional materials, curriculum, tuition and fees for part-time tutoring services or specialized education programs designed to improve reading or literacy skills and fees for after-school programs designed to improve reading or literacy.

Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog, helps administer Reading Scholarship Accounts along with four other scholarships for Florida schoolchildren.

Students who participated in the pilot program already were behind before the pandemic forced school closures, according to Ruth Gary, a member of the North Brevard Education Committee and coordinator of the program.

Funded by a grant from the Central Florida Urban League, the students met daily with an instructor and teaching assistant at a local community center for focused, hands-on tutoring in reading and science.

With help from Brevard County Parks and Recreation, and personal protective equipment donated by the Harry T. and Harriet V. Moore Cultural Complex, the program also included tours of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex and the American Space Museum in Titusville.

Timing of the program likely was fortuitous, as children in Florida and across the nation who already were prone to summer learning loss were predicted to fall even further behind due to COVID-related school campus closures.

Amid concerns the learning gap would only continue to worsen this fall, especially for children already at a disadvantage, Gary said the organizations would like to expand to a full-blown after-school program for K-5 students at up to five additional schools.

Brevard Public Schools spokeswoman Nicki Hensley said district officials have scheduled a meeting for early November with representatives from the Urban League and the North Brevard NAACP to discuss the plan.

October 20, 2020 0 comment
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Achievement GapBlog GuestCommentary and OpinionCoronavirus / COVID-19Dan LipsEducation and Public PolicyEducation EquityEducation Savings AccountsFeaturedReading Scholarship

Reducing inequality in outside-of-school learning opportunities by investing in, expanding children’s savings accounts

Dan Lips July 10, 2020
Dan Lips

Research indicates that the richest 20% of American families spent approximately $9,400 on enrichment for their children, such as tutoring, compared to $1,400 spent by the poorest 20%, as of 2006.

The COVID-19 pandemic has cast a spotlight on one of the significant barriers to equal opportunity in American education. Children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are more dependent on in-school learning and have fewer resources to learn when schools are closed.

As lawmakers and school leaders work to prepare for the 2020-21 school year, including planning ahead for potential school closures and providing distance learning options, policymakers should consider new reforms to address longstanding inequalities in outside-of-school learning opportunities, which contribute to the achievement gap.

Background on the summer learning ‘slide’ and potential pandemic learning ‘dive’

In the past, researchers have found that children return to school after summer vacation having lost some of the learning gains made during the prior school year, and that children from poorer families regress more than kids from wealthy families. Over time, differences in outside-of-school learning opportunities and cumulative “summer learning slides” contribute to the academic achievement gap.

Many factors affect children’s learning opportunities when school is out of session. One difference is access to financial resources. According to Greg J. Duncan and Richard J. Murnane, the richest 20% of American families spent approximately $9,400 on enrichment for their children compared to $1,400 spent by the poorest 20%, as of 2006.

Reducing inequality in outside-of-school learning was an important goal before the pandemic. Now, it’s an urgent national challenge. More than 50 million children missed months of school in 2020, and the outlook for the upcoming school year remains uncertain.

The effects of pandemic-related school closures will be felt most acutely by disadvantaged children. Brown University researchers predict that children will return to school this fall having lost at least one-third of a typical year’s worth of learning in reading and a half a year’s knowledge of math. Importantly, they predict that these losses “would not be universal, with the top third of students potentially making gains in reading.”

In other words, the pandemic is increasing the achievement gap.

Facing the likelihood of periodic school closures and reduced schooling hours this fall, the United States risks growing and cementing an academic achievement gap for a generation of schoolchildren. 

Investing in and expanding children’s savings accounts to promote equal opportunity

One option to address inequality in outside-of-school learning would be to invest in disadvantaged children’s education savings accounts and expand their allowable uses to include tutoring and enrichment expenses during the pandemic.

Several states, cities, and charitable organizations have created programs to invest in children’s savings accounts as a mechanism to reduce wealth inequality and promote saving for college. In their 2018 book “Making Education Work for the Poor,” William Elliott and Melinda Lewis describe how children’s savings account programs can promote equal opportunity. Elliot and Lewis reported that: “At the end of 2016, there were nearly 313,000 children with a CSA in 42 programs operating in 29 states, a 39% increase in enrollment from the previous year.”

Encouraging empirical evidence suggests that children’s savings account programs have positive effects for children and parents even during their early years. For example, Washington University conducted a randomized control trial in Oklahoma in 2007, providing $1,000 investments into the 529 savings accounts of approximately 1,350 children randomly selected. A control group of approximately 1,350 students did not receive investments. The “treatment group” received other benefits including savings matches and educational materials about savings for college.

The Washington University researchers studying the program over time reported that the treatment group benefited in multiple ways. In terms of financial benefits, “treatment children are 30x more likely than control children to have 529 college savings,” and the total amount of savings is 6x more than the control group.

The researchers also found that children receiving the investments demonstrated emotional-social benefits compared to the control group, particularly among economically disadvantaged children. “At about age 4, disadvantaged treatment children score better than disadvantaged control children on a measure of social-emotional development,” the researchers found, adding: “The effects of the CDA in these groups are similar in size to at least one estimate of the effect of the Head Start program on early social-emotional development.”

A short-term option for pandemic school closures and long-term strategy to promote equal opportunity

Most children’s savings account programs use state-managed 529 plans as the savings vehicles. 529s allow tax-free savings for college, K-12 tuition and job training expenses. Federal lawmakers have proposed expanding the allowable uses of these accounts to include tutoring and other enrichment costs. Combining reforms to invest in disadvantaged children’s 529 accounts while expanding their allowable uses has the potential to narrow the outside-of-school learning gap.

Another option would be to establish short-term ESAs to pay for tutoring and other outside-of-school learning costs. For example, Florida’s Reading Scholarship Account program provides children in grades 3 through 5 who are academically behind in reading with $500 in an account that can be spent on instructional materials, tutoring, or summer or afterschool programs focused on reading and literacy skills.

Florida’s program could be a model for how states and school districts encourage tutoring and remedial instruction for children affected by pandemic-related school closures. But the short window of time to establish, oversee, and manage new savings account programs for tutoring during the pandemic could be a challenge.

529 accounts are already overseen by state governments, which can ensure that funds are spent on allowed uses and not withdrawn for other purposes, particularly if government funding is being invested into these accounts. During the COVID-19 pandemic, 529 accounts would provide a practical vehicle for directing education funding to lower-income families to pay for tutoring and other services to make up for time lost while schools are closed without requiring states to establish and manage new ESA programs.

Beyond the pandemic, investing in disadvantaged children’s savings accounts has the potential to reduce wealth and educational inequality and promote equal opportunity.

July 10, 2020 0 comment
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Education and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation LegislationFeaturedFundingGardiner ScholarshipNewsReading Scholarship

Funding for Gardiner, Reading scholarships remains intact in 2020-21 state budget

Lisa Buie June 29, 2020
Lisa Buie

More than 600 parents, educators and students rallied at the state Capitol in January asking for an expansion to the Gardiner Scholarship program.

A $42 million increase to the Gardiner Scholarship program for students with unique abilities has been spared in a state budget totaling $92.2 billion, despite a more than $1 billion spending veto.

Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier today signed the state budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year that in addition to the Gardiner expansion, which brings the total amount allocated to the program to $189.9 million, includes $7.6 million for the Reading Scholarship Account program. That program is open to public school students in grades 3-5 who experience reading difficulty.

Both programs are administered by Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog.

In a year that DeSantis vowed to make “the year of the teacher,” the budget includes $500 million to raise the minimum salary for public K-12 teachers. The budget also includes per-student public school funding of $7,793, an increase over current year spending by $137 for each student.

The governor signed the budget more than five months after 600 parents, educators and students converged on the Capitol for a rally to express their appreciation for the Gardiner program and to ask for extra financial support so that more families could participate.

The scholarship currently serves more than 13,000 students, but about 3,500 have been waiting for additional funding.

Gardiner differs from other state scholarships in that it allows parents to personalize their child’s education by directing money toward a combination of programs and approved providers. Approved expenses include tuition, therapy, curriculum, technology and a college savings account. Unspent money can roll over from year to year.

Gardiner Scholarship amounts vary according to grade and county. The average amount for most students in the 2019-20 school year was $10,400.

The Reading Scholarship Account, created in 2018, offers parents access to education savings accounts worth $500 each to pay for tuition and fees related to part-time tutoring, summer and after-school literacy programs, instructional materials and curriculum related to reading or literacy.

The new budget takes effect Wednesday.

June 29, 2020 0 comment
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Education and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceFeaturedFlorida Tax Credit ScholarshipGardiner ScholarshipHope ScholarshipNewsReading ScholarshipSchool Choice

Auditor General releases annual review of Florida scholarship programs

Jon East April 24, 2020
Jon East

In its fifth annual audit of Step Up For Students, the state’s largest nonprofit scholarship funding organization, the Florida Auditor General today issued what amounted to a clean bill of health.

The report included findings on data procedures and scholarship purchase returns, both of which have been fixed by the organization, while more broadly concluding: “Our audit procedures and tests of selected Step Up records and accounts found that Step Up generally complied with the applicable provisions of State law.”

The audit covered Step Up’s administration of four state-authorized scholarships in 2018-19: the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for K-12 students from low-income and working-class households; Gardiner Scholarships for students with special needs; Hope Scholarships for students who have been bullied in public schools; and Reading Scholarship Accounts that provide help for elementary public school students who are struggling in reading. Collectively, the programs served about 116,000 students that year.

The first finding related to Social Security numbers. The auditor said Step Up was not fully notifying Tax Credit Scholarship applicants of the purpose and authorization for collecting student Social Security numbers. It also questioned whether Step Up was sufficiently restricting internal computer access to such numbers. The organization responded by adding a new notice to all families when the 2020-21 scholarship application season opened in January. It also embarked on a review of database permissions for every staffer, limiting access to Social Security numbers to only those whose job required it, and creating a new process for constant review.

The second finding was with the Gardiner Scholarship, which allows students to spend money on a variety of educational needs beyond just tuition and fees. The report said Step Up was sometimes failing its own policy of posting a timely credit to each student’s account when a household returned a purchase made through authorized online vendors. The audit found 22 returned purchases worth a total of $16,327 that were not credited back within Step Up’s 14-day guideline. By way of comparison, that same year, 2018-19, Gardiner students spent a total of $21.9 million on instructional materials. Step Up reported the problem was remedied with automation.

In his formal response, Step Up president Doug Tuthill thanked auditors for their professionalism and wrote that: “We value the insights and recommendations that contribute to process improvements that strengthen our organization.”

Step Up For Students hosts this blog. 

 

April 24, 2020 0 comment
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Education and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation LegislationFeaturedGardiner ScholarshipNewsReading ScholarshipSchool Choice

Florida Legislature approves $42 million funding boost for Gardiner Scholarships

Lisa Buie March 19, 2020
Lisa Buie

Efforts advanced by parents, educators and students at a rally at the Capitol in January bore fruit today with lawmakers’ decision to provide additional funding for the Gardiner Scholarship program. Photo: COLIN HACKLEY

Florida House and Senate members today unanimously approved a $93.2 billion state budget that includes an additional $42 million for the Gardiner Scholarship program, an education savings account for students with unique abilities.

The approval brings the total amount allocated to the program to $189,901,004 and opens the program to more families.

“I am thankful the Florida state lawmakers, even during this time of great uncertainty, are putting the needs of Florida’s exceptional and most vulnerable kids at the forefront of their agenda,” said Katie Swingle of Winter Haven after learning of the vote. Swingle, whose 12-year-old son, Gregory, receives a Gardiner Scholarship, was among hundreds of parents, teachers and students who attended a January rally at the Capitol to encourage lawmakers to support a funding increase.

Created in 2014, the scholarship currently serves more than 13,000 students. It differs from other state scholarship programs in that it provides an education savings account that parents can use to direct money toward a combination of programs and approved providers. Approved expenses include tuition, therapy, curriculum, technology and a college savings account.

Lawmakers also allocated $7.6 million for the Reading Scholarship Account program, open to public school students in grades 3-5 who experience reading difficulty.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle praised the budget as responsible and realistic.

“This is a bipartisan effort,” said Rep. Wengay Newton, D-St. Petersburg. “We’ve got to be looking at ways to survive and work together. I think we’re in a great place.”

March 19, 2020 0 comment
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CustomizationEducation ChoiceEducation Savings AccountsFeaturedGardiner ScholarshipHomeschoolingParental ChoiceReading ScholarshipSchool Choice

One-stop online shopping experience a boon for families pursuing personalized education

Lisa Buie February 21, 2020
Lisa Buie

Madelyn Carlisle, 9, a homeschooled student who lives in Orlando, has benefitted from education-related products including curriculum aids her mother purchases from the online platform MyScholarShop.

When Madelyn Carlisle was a toddler, a simple sip of apple juice could send her into shock.

Born with a rare condition called food protein induced enterocolitis syndrome, she survived on a liquid formula that had to be given at specific times. Until she was 4, her body could tolerate only 18 ingredients.

Madelyn’s diet has expanded. But her condition, along with learning difficulties that surfaced when she started school, led her mother, Christin, to choose homeschooling as the best education option for her daughter.

Madelyn, now 9, and her 4-year-old sister, Layla, who is severely allergic to tree nuts, are among 13,000 Florida students who benefit from a Gardiner Scholarship. Created in 2014, the program allows parents the opportunity to individualize the educational plans for their children with certain special needs, including autism, Down syndrome and spina bifida, as well as conditions classified as rare diseases like Madelyn’s.

The benefit of a Gardiner Scholarship for families like the Carlisles is that parents can direct the funding – currently an average of $10,400 a year – toward a combination of programs and approved providers. In addition to paying for private school tuition, this education savings account, provided by the state and administered by an approved scholarship funding organization, covers tutoring and specialized services such as speech and occupational therapy as well as instructional materials including digital devices like laptops and iPads.

Christin was thrilled to learn the scholarship would reimburse for education-related purchases, but like many families dealing with crushing medical expenses, the Carlisles aren’t always able to pay up front for the materials their homeschooled daughters need. Step Up For Students, which administers the Gardiner Scholarship (and hosts this blog), foresaw that dilemma and created MyScholarShop, an online catalog that allows parents to make purchases from vendors who are program partners.

Gardiner families simply log into their Step Up For Students portal and click on the MyScholarShop link, which takes them to an online marketplace populated with educational tools sold by dozens of vendors including BestBuy and Lakeshore Learning. They shop as they would on any online website, send purchases to their cart, and MyScholarShop does the rest, including checking to make sure available funds are in the family’s scholarship account. The order is processed and shipped to the family’s home.

“We love the addition of MyScholarShop, if for no other reason than we do not have to wait for reimbursement,” Christin said. “Aside from that, I also save time by not having to submit a reimbursement request.”

Layla Carlisle, 4, who along with her sister, Madelyn, is homeschooled, enjoys learning with the popular curriculum Hooked On Phonics.

Her daughters have benefited from an array of educational products, including a calendar from Lakeshore Learning that helps with counting skills. They’ve also used the popular curriculum Hooked On Phonics and one called Math U See, which begins at the primer level and advances as the girls progress. The package includes three-dimensional blocks, a math workbook, a parent manual and an instructional DVD.

“We like it because it’s a solid program that also uses hands-on learning,” said Christin, who estimates about 70 percent of her children’s educational products came from MyScholarShop this year.

Since going online in 2018, MyScholarShop has processed approximately 50,000 orders. And because of the relationships Step Up has built with vendors who offer discounts through the online platform, more than $1.3 million in Gardiner funds have been saved.

The popularity of MyScholarShop is expected to grow as more students are approved for Gardiner Scholarships and with the development of another partnership that will allow families who participate in the Reading Scholarship, a program for Florida public school students in grades 3-5 who struggle with reading, to participate.

Step Up For Students president Doug Tuthill predicts that programs like MyScholarShop will become increasingly important as a way for families to make spending decisions and contain costs as more scholarship programs evolve into education savings accounts.

“Customization is the holy grail of education,” Tuthill said, adding that while education savings accounts offer that personalization, they’re more challenging to administer because of the diversity of products and services families can purchase.

“Consequently,” he said, “building out the infrastructure necessary to support several hundred thousand families using ESAs will be a key focus over the next few years.”

February 21, 2020 0 comment
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