Program Readiness

• What are the mission and goals of your organization?
• What academic programming does your organization currently provide?
  • Does the current programming align with the definition of high-impact tutoring and the high-impact tutoring standards?
  • Does the current programming align to the Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education (CR-SE) Framework? (see pp 1-16)
• Does the school district and/or other community-based organizations your students attend offer high-impact tutoring? If so, in which content areas and grade levels?
• Is there strong alignment between your program goals and providing high-impact tutoring?
• What are the tradeoffs program staff will need to consider when implementing high-impact tutoring?

Evaluate your program's readiness to provide high-impact tutoring by using the Is High-Impact Tutoring a good fit for your OST program? tool. This tool will help you assess the following important checkpoints:

• Mission Check: Determine how your organization’s mission and goals align with the purpose for a high-impact tutoring program.
• Requirements Check: Review the definition of high-impact tutoring and take the Tutoring Quality Improvement Standards Self-Assessment to determine the degree to which your organization is already offering high-impact tutoring, or elements of this model.
• Need Check: Seek information from your local school district and other community-based programs to determine what additional high-impact tutoring programs students do or do not have access to.
• Capacity Check: Determine the readiness of your organization to build or expand upon an existing high-impact tutoring program.
• Opportunity for Continuous Improvement: If you already have a tutoring program in place, use the Tutoring Quality Improvement System (TQIS) Self-Assessment to determine how your organization might strengthen alignment to the NSSA’s research-based definition of high-impact tutoring.

• OST Specific Tools:
  • The Value of Out-of-School Time Programs - see pages 10-14 for information on academic programming (RAND Corporation)
  • Program Readiness Tool
  • OST High-Impact Tutoring Talking Points
  • Program Profiles: Campfire Austin, Calculus Roundtable, Step Up Tutoring, Metro Nashville Public Schools
  • Chattanooga 2.0 High-Impact Tutoring Snapshot and Design Checklist
• From Existing Resources
  • High-Impact Tutoring Definition
  • High-Impact Tutoring Research Overview
  • Tutoring Quality Improvement System (TQIS) Self-Assessment
  • Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education (CR-SE) Framework

To enhance understanding of high-impact tutoring and its specific components based on the research, it is essential to promote awareness of its definition and the aligned high-impact tutoring standards.

• NSSA defines high-impact tutoring as those that either have directly demonstrated significant gains in student learning through state-of-the-art research studies or have characteristics that have proven to accelerate student learning.
• These characteristics of high-impact tutoring programs currently include: substantial time each week of required tutoring, sustained and strong relationships between students and their tutors, close monitoring of student knowledge and skills, alignment with school curriculum, and oversight of tutors to assure quality interactions.
• This presentation provides greater detail regarding the specific elements of this definition.

Leverage the definition of high-impact tutoring and associated resources to make an informed decision regarding program readiness.

• The available information and definition of high-impact tutoring will ensure organizations are able to make an informed decision about whether or not their program priorities and overall capacity are a good match for implementation of a high-impact tutoring initiative.