California public schools will continue online learning in the fall. Parents look for alternatives.
Groza, the tutoring and academic testing center in the 881 Alma Real building, is offering alternatives for parents, particularly since LAUSD will not resume in-classroom learning in the fall.
Dana Goldstein, Groza’s director of business development, wrote CTN on July 23: “With the announcement of school closures, many parents are turning to homeschool. They are creating small groups of students (learning pods) and hiring Groza teachers to teach/supplement the public-school curriculum.”
Goldstein said that Groza Academy is an accredited homeschool and that parents are enrolling after Governor Newsom announced on July 17 that school districts could not resume in-person class instruction until they had been off the state’s Covid-19 watch list for 14 consecutive days.
“All of our programs are offered online, in-home, or in-center and available for grades pre-K through 12,” Goldstein said, noting that a learning pod is described as a customized school experience in a small group setting. Students are educated according to their learning styles, interests and educational goals. There are weekly progress report cards and educational director oversight.
Students are taught by experienced, reliable and background-checked instructors and Goldstein calls it an affordable alternative to one-on-one schooling.
Goldstein said, “Our team of specialists will create a customized school experience for students from Pre-K to 12th grade that meets the needs of students and families, by educating students according to their learning styles, interests, educational goals, and schedules.”
According to a June 10 New York Times story, “New research suggests that by September, most students will have fallen behind where they would have been if they had stayed in classrooms, with some losing the equivalent of a full school years’ worth of academic gains. Racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps will most likely widen because of disparities in access to computers, home internet connections and direct instruction from teachers.”
According to the U.S. News and World Report, California is ranked 37th for kindergarten through high school, but a Wallet Hub study had the state at 38 out of the 50 states. Data considered to measure quality included graduation rate, dropout rate, math and reading test scores, Advanced Placement exam scores, student-teacher ratio, and SAT and ACT results.
California was 44th for math scores, 38th for reading test scores and 34th for dropout rate. The state came in last for its student-teacher ratio.
That was a slight setback because in 2018, USA Today wrote that California was 35th, and “California has the largest network of public schools in the country — and also one of the worst-performing.
“Only 29.2% of fourth graders in the state are proficient in math, and only 27.8% are proficient in reading — each the third lowest share of any state. While low, the fourth-grade reading proficiency rate is much improved from only a few years ago.
“Between 2003 and 2015, fourth-grade reading proficiency increased by 7.0 percentage points, far outpacing the 4.9 percentage point improvement across the U.S. as a whole.”
For more information about Learning Pods and homeschool at Groza, call (310) 454-3731 or visit:grozaacademy.com.
I have heard through the grapevine the cost is exorbitant.