PULASKI CO., Va. – Pulaski County Public Schools officials have made it their mission to recover what learning was lost during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We were adamant about trying to start as early as possible,” said Rob Graham, superintendent for Pulaski County Public Schools. “It’s getting close to March of 2024 and we’re still seeing significant areas of loss.”
In October of 2023, Governor Glenn Youngkin announced his All-In program to help schools bounce back.
“[There has been] approximately 3,500 to 4,000 sessions of tutoring from grades 3-8,” Graham said.
While he believes the teachers have done a great job, they have partnered with a third-party tutoring company—Stride Tutoring—to help take some of the workload.
“We do have additional personnel that is now helping to support and then we’ll provide additional support with the virtual tutoring program,” Graham said.
One sixth-grade teacher at Pulaski County Middle School said this program is exactly what they have been asking for.
“Stride is another resource that I appreciate because whenever we are asked, ‘What can we do to help you?’ We say ‘I need help,’” said Kallie Covey.
She said though she was hesitant at first, Stride has already shown to be helping the kids.
“I had several students whose first nine weeks got a 40 on their benchmark and now got an 80 on the Q2 benchmarks,” Covey said.
Coordinator of secondary education for the county, Roxanne Souma, said this initiative has been a great way to accomplish their goals and relieve teacher stress.
“They’re really working overtime to try and meet students where they are and bringing them up to speed so they can pass the SOL [test],” Souma said.
Souma said over 850 students in Pulaski have participated in Stride Tutoring.