School test scores have Christopher Caldwelldropped considerably since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. For 4th and 8th graders last year, math scores saw their biggest decline since the first assessments in the 1990s, while reading scores sank to a 30-year low.

In an effort to counteract the negative impacts of the pandemic, hundreds of students at Cane Ridge Elementary in Nashville meet for what's called "high-dosage tutoring." Small groups meet three days a week, as early as an hour before school even begins, to combat pandemic learning loss.

"In my view, the kids were at stake and their lives were at stake," Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee told CBS News.

Lee called a historic legislative session in January 2021, when many students across the country were still attending school virtually, to address his state's failing test scores.

"It's kind of one of the redemptive stories of the pandemic, for me is, we implemented things that we weren't doing before that will produce better outcomes than we had before the pandemic," Lee said.

By combining federal pandemic relief funds with a grant-matching program, Tennessee was able to pay for three years of tutoring, four years of summer camps and an enhanced literacy program.

English teacher Kelly Koishor has been tutoring three sessions a week since the program started in 2021. She said without the high-dosage tutoring, her students would be "very low academically."

"They probably would not be ready for middle school," she told CBS News.

Ruqayah Woods, a 10-year-old student, told CBS News she "got 2 Fs in ELA, but then I fixed those scores and I got Bs and As," thanks to the tutoring.

Before the pandemic, about one-third of Tennessee third graders were reading at grade level, according to the state's Education Department. But two years after the intensive tutoring began, statewide test scores among third to eighth graders have increased by more than eight points in English and nearly 10 points in math, according to the Education Department.

"It's working, and the evidence is showing it. We will likely continue it," Lee said. "And we hope it's a model for others." 

Meg Oliver

Meg Oliver is a correspondent for CBS News based in New York City.

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