Pandemic learning gains: Resilience. Responsibility. Lunch.

Lakisha Young, a mother and community activist in Oakland, California, is determined to prove that children in her city don't have to be permanently harmed by pandemic disruptions to their learning. 

She and colleagues at Oakland REACH, a parent group advocating for better education for Black and Latino children, formed a Virtual Family Hub last June that provides one-on-one tutoring, small-group instruction, and classes like martial arts, creative writing, and cooking. Children who participated saw measurable learning gains: Sixty percent of students in the hub’s literacy program rose two or more reading levels (different from grade levels) by the end of the summer. 

Now Oakland REACH is partnering with the Oakland Unified School District to offer hub programming after school, and

“A different kind of resilience”Soft skills and future planning“Unfinished learning”