Spotlight: Colorado

Through its High-Impact Tutoring Program (HITP) grant, the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) provides incentives for local education providers to implement effective tutoring to help students recover from unfinished learning due to the pandemic. CDE offers grantees comprehensive technical assistance, including providing professional development opportunities, evidenced-based resources, and guidance in selecting a tutoring provider that is the best fit to meet local needs.

Background

In June 2021, Governor Jared Polis signed into law HB 21-1234, creating the High-Impact Tutoring Program (HITP) Grant within CDE.

In August 2021, the Colorado State Board of Education identified three broad areas of focus for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) state set-aside funds. The Board’s first focus area was academic acceleration (or tutoring) for students most impacted by the pandemic, with an emphasis on math and literacy for students in grades K-8.

Colorado is committed to supporting students’ math recovery. In addition to the HITP grant, the state is using ESSER funds to develop two grant award programs intended to improve students’ math proficiency and growth:

• Competitive grant awards to date to support school districts’ purchase of high-quality standards-aligned K-8 math curriculum. ($4.9M)
• Support for after-school and summer expanded learning programming, for which a primary goal of many programs is support in math academic needs. ($21M+)

Also in 2023, Colorado passed HB23-1231, legislation to improve mathematics outcomes in pre-kindergarten through twelfth-grade education.