The pandemic has taken a huge toll on public school students in Newark. There’s been a lot of learning loss.
But as Reverend David Jefferson of the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Newark put it, help is on the way.
The church is joining with a charter school and the New Jersey Children’s Foundation to launch in September a free tutoring center for 9th and 10th graders.
Jefferson said the problem demands action.
“We have 9 out of 10 students in the City of Newark that are not performing at grade level, that in and of itself raises a huge issue,” he said.
Spring 2021 test scores show only 9% of Newark students in grades 2-8 met state expectations in math, and 11% met expectations in reading.
Jefferson said those statistics meant there was no time to waste.
“We just thought that hey, we gotta do something here and we can’t keep kicking this can down the road,” he said.
He said education is key to closing the wealth gap.
“One of Dr. King’s slogans was, especially when riots were going on in different parts of the country, he said, ‘It’s not just burn, baby, burn, but it’s learn, baby, learn, so that you can earn, baby, earn,’” said Jefferson.