Colorado Revised Statutes Title 22. Education § 22-104-101. Legislative declaration

(a) Significant interruptions to in-person learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic have led to potentially devastating and long-lasting negative impacts on student achievement, impacting every part of Colorado society;

(b) These negative impacts on student achievement are not equal; students furthest from privilege are at risk of falling behind the most;

(c) Research suggests that while all students may fall behind as much as seven months because of interruptions to in-person learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students who identify as Black, Latino, or lower income may fall behind as much as ten months, exacerbating already entrenched inequities;

(d) Responding to learning loss and the widening of opportunity gaps could be the greatest challenge our state faces over the next few years, and the state has an urgent and immediate need to provide additional support to ensure students are well prepared for the future;

(e) With scarce resources, it is imperative to know which academic interventions yield the best results for students so that resources are deployed judiciously and effectively;

(f) While there are many interventions that have a positive impact on student achievement, one intervention, backed by a strong body of research, has consistently been shown to be the most effective in every grade, from kindergarten through twelfth grade;

(g) Studies have consistently shown, in multiple diverse settings, that “high-impact tutoring”, also referred to as “high-dosage tutoring”, has made significant positive impact on students from all backgrounds, but especially students furthest from opportunity; and

(h) When such tutoring is implemented, students average more than four months of additional learning in elementary literacy, thereby strengthening vital early reading and writing skills, and almost ten months of additional learning in high school math.