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by Michael Lombardo on Oct 27, 2022 5:24:00 AM
Following Competitive Process, BookNook and Two National Partners Join National Community of Practice, Build Evidence Base for Cost-Effective, Sustainable Learning Solutions
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (October 27th, 2022) — BookNook is proud to be the only organization to partner with two of 31 research and education partners that were awarded a national competitive grant by Accelerate to expand high impact tutoring. Over 3,000 elementary students who are not at grade level in reading will receive high-impact, small-group tutoring through partnership with BookNook, the San Francisco Public Education Fund, San Francisco Unified School District, and the city of San Francisco. Additionally, BookNook is partnering with New Schools New Orleans and Tulane University to provide college and high school tutors with a curriculum grounded in research and the science of reading so they can provide near-peer, small-group tutoring to elementary students not at grade level in reading. BookNook is proud to join multiple partners to launch innovative models throughout the country.
The award, presented by Accelerate, is part of a broader national effort to develop and scale a sustainable, cost-effective model for high-impact tutoring that boosts academic achievement for all students.
“BookNook is honored to be part of this collaboration between government and community institutions in San Francisco to implement a scalable model that can be replicated across cities throughout the United States,” says Michael Lombardo, Founder/CEO of BookNook. “We hope this partnership between the city, school district, and nonprofits can serve as the template to build an ecosystem of tutoring to help our students accelerate their academic growth.”
“We know that good tutoring programs work—partly because well-off families have used them to boost student success for generations. And we know that those same programs can be a powerful tool to close racial and economic opportunity gaps when we give less privileged students the same access. What we haven’t figured out yet is how to make high-impact tutoring available for everyone,” said Accelerate CEO Kevin Huffman. “With districts deciding how to spend one-time federal funds to combat the effects of the pandemic, solving that challenge has never been more urgent.”
Accelerate’s announcement of the inaugural cohort of grantees follows a competitive national selection process. In spring 2022, Accelerate, as part of its launch, released a Call to Effective Action to recruit partners to help it design, launch, and scale high-impact tutoring efforts and to build a community committed to impact and to shaping the evidence base for tutoring. Partners interested in the initiative were asked to first submit a letter of intent outlining their high-level vision. Following review of more than 200 letters by a panel of diverse experts, finalists were selected and invited to submit a full-length proposal. Beyond the inaugural cohort of grantees, Accelerate will continue to make additional investments in tutoring innovation over time.
About BookNook
Founded in 2016, BookNook is an all-in-one tutoring solution proven to increase student achievement through online tutors and an engaging curriculum fueled by our synchronous online learning platform. BookNook has quickly grown to partner with over 2,500 schools across 38 states, receiving national recognition for its impact on students’ reading ability and unique equity-based pricing model. For more information, visit BookNook.com.
About Accelerate
Accelerate is a nonprofit organization that seeks to embed high-impact tutoring programs into public schools now and for the long term. Launched in April 2022 with an initial fund of $65 million, Accelerate funds and supports innovation in schools, launches high-quality research, and advances a federal and state policy agenda to support this work.
Accelerate is supported by Kenneth C. Griffin, Chief Executive Officer of Citadel; Arnold Ventures; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and the Overdeck Family Foundation.
For more information, visit Accelerate.
View a list of all grantees and a summary of their tutoring models.