First Lady, Education Secretary visit Georgia summer learning program

July 22nd, 2022

First Lady Jill Biden smiles as she is introduced before speaking during the American Federation of Teachers convention, July 15, 2022, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

First Lady Jill Biden and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona visited a summer learning program in Georgia on Thursday. The site is located on the University of Georgia’s campus in Athens but is part of a program called Horizons Atlanta.

The visit was part of a trip by the administration to highlight summer learning programs across the country that received money from the American Rescue Plan, a stimulus package signed by President Joe Biden in 2021.

Horizons is a national program with several Atlanta locations. It began by focusing on summer learning to help students from lower-income households combat the “summer slide,” where kids can lose months’ worth of learning over the summer months. In recent years, it became year-round.

Now, the program also has to confront what some educators call the “Covid slide,” where students lost academic ground due to virtual learning during the pandemic. Dr. Biden, who teaches at a community college, said she noticed a difference when her students resumed in-person learning.

“It was a little bit harder to form community in the classroom because a lot of students had learning loss and a lot of students hadn’t been around anybody for a long time,” she said.

That resonated with parent Erica Brightwell. She said her son Eric has embraced the program, which teaches kids to swim in addition to helping them brush up on reading and math skills.

“Covid made it where his Pre-K year was not normal at all,” she said. “His big brother was his best friend and classmate. So I just love the fact that this program came to be a thing and he was able to learn a little more during the summer than he would have just sitting at a daycare.”

The Athens program began in February. It’s housed in UGA’s Ramsey Student Center, which includes classrooms and a pool, so students don’t need to go far when transitioning from math and reading lessons to swimming.

Georgia received more than $4 billion from the American Rescue Plan. It will spend about $40 million on summer learning and after-school programs, including Horizons.

Cardona seemed to think the program is putting that money to good use.

“The American Rescue Plan dollars are intended to provide programs like this one, to make up for some of that time where students weren’t with their teachers, weren’t with their friends,” he said. “And we saw some wonderful examples of it here today.”

Still, programs like Horizons Atlanta have a huge task in front of them. Trying to make up for months of instruction lost during Covid will likely take time and money.

“[In] 2020, when we were all virtual, we did see a lot of learning loss,” said Alex Wan, executive director of Horizons Atlanta. “Even just basic classroom skills, particularly in our younger kids. Kindergarteners who’d never been in the classroom needed to be taught how to hold a pencil. This year, at least the initial assessment that we do at the beginning, we’re still seeing learning loss. They’re still behind, but all that said, they’re making progress.”

To help students make that progress, Biden said the best thing teachers can do for them is to instill confidence.

“Because they feel like they can do whatever it is — whether it’s math, whether it’s English or history, or swimming; It doesn’t matter,” she said. “Confidence is the most important thing. That they feel good about themselves.”