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11/23/2023. Article
“A lot of districts really want to provide additional support for their students. They want to do it in an equitable way and they want to do it in a sustainable way. One of the things that we’ve seen is that starting big and not being able to do [tutoring implementation] smoothly sometimes backfires,” said Nancy Waymack, director of research partnerships and policy for the National Student Support Accelerator at Stanford University, which studies K-12 tutoring trends. “Starting by focusing on a smaller group of students, and really making sure that they have the full support of a consistent tutor, on a very frequent basis, in a data-driven way that’s really aligned with the curriculum is a way that’s going to work really well.”
11/02/2023. Article
Schools across America continue struggling to help their students catch up following unprecedented learning losses resulting from pandemic school closures beginning in March 2020. It is vital—both to address current needs and to stash away for future use—to determine which methods work to boost student achievement. To that end, a group of researchers, led by Stanford University’s Susanna Loeb, recently examined a high-dosage tutoring effort called OnYourMark, a fully virtual model designed to solidify foundational literacy skills for students in kindergarten through second grade.
10/31/2023. Article
Intensive, high-dose tutoring can boost early reading skills, even in a virtual format, according to a new experimental study.
Researchers from the National Student Support Accelerator at Stanford University tracked the reading progress of about 2,000 K-2 students in a dozen Texas charter schools. Half of the students were randomly assigned to attend class normally, while half received intensive remote tutoring for part of the school day, in small groups, through the nonprofit group OnYourMark, which serves K-2 students in seven states.
10/27/2023. General
As schools, districts, and states work to address the student needs following the pandemic, many turned to high-impact tutoring, a research-based approach to providing individualized instruction to students. In fact, thirty-seven percent of public schools reported providing “high-dosage” tutoring on a federal school pulse panel survey in December 2022. In addition, many states have implemented or are exploring policies to increase access to high-impact tutoring. This brief explores the tutoring policy landscape at the state level as of November 2023.
10/23/2023. Article
“So, high impact tutoring is tutoring that happens with a qualified tutor and that means someone who is trained and is receiving coaching. It also happens frequently. So at least three to 5 times a week, in a small group or one-on-one. It is very personalized,” says Director of Partnerships and Policy for the National Student Support Accelerator Nancy Waymack.
09/30/2023. Article
In the aftermath of COVID-19, learning losses are among the most devastating, persistent consequences of the pandemic. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds were disproportionately impacted, creating both a learning and inequality crisis. Studies from the California School Boards Association and University of Chicago hail high-impact tutoring as a key solution for both issues.
In Guilford County Schools, implementation of high-impact tutoring has produced impressive results. All student groups improved their test proficiency scores this year.
09/27/2023. Article
Districts across the nation use Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) to target appropriate supports for each student. High-impact tutoring is the most effective research-backed academic support – consistently demonstrating from six months to over two years of learning gains for students across grade levels and content areas in a single year of tutoring.
Districts that have chosen to integrate high-impact tutoring with MTSS are finding that embedding this highly effective support into the fabric of their schools improves student outcomes, reduces implementation challenges, improves instructional coherence, and streamlines operations.
09/27/2023. Article
According to the U.S. Department of Education’s research arm, high-dose tutoring is the most effective—though often the most expensive.
The National Student Support Accelerator, a Stanford University center that studies effective tutoring, finds that effective high-dose tutoring programs require:
Tutoring integrated into the school day to increase tutor-teacher coordination and avoid transportation or time problems for students.
Targeting students based on academic need rather than requiring parents to opt into services.
Budgeting services for at least three to five days a week for extended periods of time.
Differentiated tutoring based on particular student needs and skills.
Data-gathering and progress-monitoring, particularly when schools work with outside tutoring providers.
09/27/2023. Article
With research showing that far fewer students took advantage of online tutoring than districts expected, the outcomes-based model is one way to ensure districts use public funds wisely. “In education, we can pay for things a long time before we realize no children are participating in it,” Miller said.
09/22/2023. General
Districts across the nation use Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) to target appropriate supports for each student. High-impact tutoring is the most effective research-backed academic support – consistently demonstrating from six months to over two years of learning gains for students across grade levels and content areas in a single year of tutoring.
Districts that have chosen to integrate high-impact tutoring with MTSS are finding that embedding this highly effective support into the fabric of their schools improves student outcomes, reduces implementation challenges, improves instructional coherence, and streamlines operations.
08/26/2023. Legislation
Updates this 2021 law to allow school districts to advance students who score in the “approaching” category on their third grade Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) ELA test and score in the 50th percentile on the third-grade reading screener test if they complete summer school or tutoring in fourth grade. Students who score in the “below basic” category must complete both summer school and tutoring in 4th grade in order to advance.
08/26/2023. Legislation
Creates a student-based funding formula that includes additional funding for all fourth graders who are not proficient in ELA. This funding is identified in the 2023-24 TISA Guide as 4th grade tutoring totaling over $22M.
08/25/2023. Legislation
Provides $10 million in American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Relief Funds (ESSER III) to launch and scale high-quality, school day tutoring for secondary math that will mitigate long-term learning loss resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
08/21/2023. Article
“Michigan, by having their policy come out now, is certainly behind several states but ahead of probably at least half of the states, I’m sure,” said Kathy Bendheim, managing director at the National Student Support Accelerator (NSSA), a group out of Stanford University that shares tutoring research and helps create evidence-based programs.
She said Michigan’s program incorporates “high-quality standards” in its policy but must ensure tutoring programs are actually implemented as designed.
“The urgency of the situation makes you want to do it for all kids immediately,” she said. “But what we have learned is that starting small — smaller — getting it right and building those real champions makes the expansion so much easier.”
07/22/2023. Article
As dean of Bowling Green State University’s College of Education in Ohio, Dawn Shinew has watched aspiring teachers struggle to make ends meet.
Often, they can’t afford to work as unpaid student-teachers in schools while paying tuition and the usual costs of living. It’s doubly discouraging, Shinew said, because few will earn a high salary after they graduate and enter the teaching profession.
“We do have students, who, I think, would be interested, really talented, the kinds of people we want to be in classrooms, [for whom] it isn’t a matter of commitment, it’s a practical reality,” Shinew said.
07/12/2023. General
Many districts sought to provide students with high-impact tutoring in response to pandemic-induced learning needs. Some started earlier than others, and we aimed to learn from the experiences of the early adopters to help inform a smoother implementation among those beginning the process later. During the 2021-22 school year, we partnered with school districts, tutoring providers, and quarterback organizations that support implementation across districts to learn from their efforts in implementing tutoring.
06/23/2023. Article
The Tutor901 program provides high-impact tutoring, one of the most effective interventions for increasing the academic achievement of students who are behind grade level proficiency. Following proven practices recommended by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, tutoring is aligned to all ten dimensions the institute identifies as principles for effective tutoring design.
06/21/2023. Article
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06/08/2023. Article
First, learning gaps compound when they go unaddressed. That means there is limited time to help students not only catch up to grade level, but accelerate beyond. For example, 1 in 6 children who are not reading proficiently in third grade do not graduate from high school on time, a rate four times greater than that for proficient readers. With limited in-classroom time available to help students catch up, evidence of impact should play a key role when districts decide what programs, models and interventions to buy. Many evidence-focused resources can help them guide decision-making, including EdResearch for Recovery and the National Student Support Accelerator.
05/31/2023. Article
Developing and staffing the kind of tutoring that research has shown is most effective—often referred to as high quality, or high-impact tutoring—is complex, time-consuming, and expensive. Tutors meet with students at least three times a week, in small groups or one-on-one. Work should be targeted to a specific subject and aligned to high-quality curriculum, and should develop strong tutor-tutee relationships.
“High-impact tutoring is not homework help. They’re not sporadically dropping in,” said Carly Robinson, a senior researcher at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education who works with the National Student Support Accelerator, a group promoting research-based tutoring programs.
05/28/2023. Legislation
Offers $30 million Learning Acceleration Grants for Virginia families. Approved families will receive $1,500 for tutoring in English, math, science, history, and foreign languages. Grants can also be used for speech pathology and reading intervention. Any student meeting Virginia’s school-age requirements and attending a public, private, parochial, or homeschool qualify. Students whose family income is at 300% or less of the federal poverty level are eligible to receive $3,000 in grant money.
05/28/2023. Legislation
Reallocates $34.7 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to LEARNS Act initiatives. $8.5 million will go to supplemental education such as tutoring and $20 million will go toward high-impact tutoring. The remaining funds will go to literary coaches. The LEARNS Act is a broad bill passed in March 2023 that changes many parts of Arkansas’ education system.
05/18/2023. Article
“The truth is that there are a lot of scabbed knees and bruises in this work,” Borders, who oversees the state’s tutoring effort, said at a conference held last week at Stanford University about the future of tutoring. “Not going to sugar coat this, guys. It’s hard work.”
Early in the pandemic, experts identified high-dosage tutoring — the kind that’s offered multiple times per week, in small groups, with a consistent tutor — as a potentially successful strategy for helping students plug learning gaps. But more than two years into a national push to expand the reach of tutoring, many schools are still struggling with basics, like how to staff and schedule their programs.
04/28/2023. Legislation
Creates the Early Literacy Success School Grant and Community Grant programs to fund K-3 literacy programs that include high-dosage tutoring as well as other supports for improved literacy.
04/28/2023. Legislation
Funds learning recovery initiatives. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced the availability of $4 billion in funding for intensive tutoring, additional instructional time, accelerated learning strategies, early literacy intervention, and other learning supports. This is the second disbursement of funds, following one of $4 billion in November 2022. The funds are intended to aid in pandemic learning loss.
04/27/2023. Article
Of all academic interventions, so-called “high-dosage” tutoring has shown the most evidence of helping students gain academic ground quickly.
Susanna Loeb, the founder and executive director of the National Student Support Accelerator, studies how schools can use and scale up intensive tutoring, which involves one-on-one situations or very small groups meeting at least 30 minutes, three or more times a week.
Loeb, who is also a professor and the director of the education policy initiative at the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University, spoke with Education Week about what goes into effective tutoring.
04/25/2023. Article
High-quality tutoring is one of the most effective educational interventions we have – but we need both humans and technology for it to work. In a standing-room-only session, GSE Professor Susanna Loeb, a faculty lead at the Stanford Accelerator for Learning, spoke alongside school district superintendents on the value of high-impact tutoring. The most important factors in effective tutoring, she said, are (1) the tutor has data on specific areas where the student needs support, (2) the tutor has high-quality materials and training, and (3) there is a positive, trusting relationship between the tutor and student. New technologies, including AI, can make the first and second elements much easier – but they will never be able to replace human adults in the relational piece, which is crucial to student engagement and motivation.
04/24/2023. Event
Join this invitation-only gathering of researchers, district, state, and higher education leaders, tutoring providers, and funders to:
Learn about implications of recent research findings and innovative and sustainable practices in tutoring;
Explore successful state and district strategies for scaling and sustainability; and
Make connections with education leaders in the field.
04/13/2023. Article
Pearl, the leading research-based tutor management platform, announced today insights from its inaugural Community