Across the country school districts have been working to help students recover academic ground lost during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Administrators at Erie's Public Schools say their mid-year data shows that students are experiencing a lot of academic growth this year, putting them ahead of other urban districts, which are recovering more slowly.

We visited Jefferson Elementary school where we saw the enthusiastic education recovery work in progress, with teachers using active hands-on methods to teach math concepts to students from kindergarten and up.

Proficiency scores nationally and locally have been impacted by the pandemic.  But Erie's students have shown tremendous growth, with proficiency almost back to pre-pandemic levels.

Director of Education Karin Ryan says the reason is that the administration and teachers are setting high expectations for students, and they're challenging kids to do grade-level work.  "So our teachers are working really hard with the administrators in their buildings to understand where students are at and to scaffold unfinished learning up to grade level work," Ryan said.

School officials say bouncing back from covid-19 also means making sure that students' social and emotional needs are met through the district's student services. 

As part of those services, they're planning, by the end of this school year, to add a case manager in every one of Erie's Public Schools.  The initiative is happening through a partnership with UPMC Western Behavioral Health at Safe Harbor.  Although it's funded in part with CARES ACT recovery money, plans are to continue it long term.

According to Director of Student Services Scherry Prater, they're partnering with Safe Harbor, because they noticed student mental health numbers were rising, as were other challenges for families including basic needs at home.  "And their goal really is to do outreach to the families and that is often done by working with the students initially, and then that opens the door for our case managers to go in and assess other needs that are within the home," Prater said.

Prater says some students suffered through the hospitalization or death of a parent from COVID-19.  Others had to step up to adult responsibilities helping feed and care for younger siblings and help them with on-line learning.

The goal is to remove obstacles to good school attendance and learning, so that academic recovery process can continue.

Erie's Public Schools are also working with United Way of Erie County to make every district school a designated "community school." That will bring more partners and support to help families overcome obstacles to learning between home and school.