July 16, 2024-- At the outset of the 2023-2024 school year, the district announced it had earned a state grant worth $614k to host a tutoring program to further eliminate learning losses related to the pandemic. The story announcing the news was titled "Tutoring Program to Have High Impact for District Third, Fourth Graders," and that ambitious headline has proven true.

Hosted at all 12 elementary buildings before school throughout last year, TRRS High Impact Tutoring (H.I.T.) had lofty goals that included, primarily, improving math proficiency among third and fourth graders on the NJSLA (New Jersey Student Learning Assessment).

While it's believed that the district's NJSLA scores improved broadly across the board-- that data is known but yet available for release-- the impact of TRRS H.I.T. was clear within grade 3 and grade 4 math scores, which each showed significant improvement.

"The remarkable success of our High Impact Tutoring Program is a testament to the exceptional dedication of our teachers and the hard work of our students," said Director of K-5 Curriculum Rachel Cicala, who led the TRRS H.I.T. program. "Their combined efforts have led to outstanding academic progress."

Assistant Superintendent Cara DiMeo echoed those sentiments.

"To a see a program operate like this from beginning to end, and meet its goals and then some is a beautiful thing," she said. "This is what grants are for-- to help us meet needs-- and it always comes back to student achievement. We're so proud of everyone who helped make this happen, especially our teachers and students."