ORANGEBURG COUNTY, S.C. — A free afterschool and summer learning program in the Orangeburg County town of North is helping to bridge a learning gap that has broadened since the pandemic.
“I think everybody did the best they could and what happened is our students were sacrificial lambs," said Bright Star Learning Center director Brenda Jamison.
Children throughout our state are still bouncing after the pandemic. Jamison says she's seen it first hand.
“A lot of our kids were not on grade level. Now you have some that were on grade level and they did fine with virtual learning but for the majority of our kids, that did not suit them," she said.
According to the Education Recovery Scorecard, students across the state lost four months of math learning between 2019 and 2022 and more than one month in reading. This varies between districts, with some falling behind closer to a full year.
“Students were away from their classrooms for a significant amount of time and when you think about going face to face five days a week to literally virtual every day, the impact was very real," said Derek Phillips of the SC Department of Education.
Last April, the state department of education partnered with the Afterschool Alliance to award about $14.5 million to about 1,400 afterschool and summer programs across the state. The Bright Star Learning Center in North is one of them.
The goal is to help bridge the gap among disadvantaged communities.
“A lot of parents can’t afford this kind of service so it has allowed a lot of parents who normally would not have sent their child to a program like this to be able to participate.”
The center is serving Orangeburg County children in kindergarten through eighth grade. They are accepting enrollment until the last day of school which is June 2.
Students will be enrolled from now through the end of next school year.
For more information, call Bright Star at (803) 247-2516.