The Literacy Center
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Educator
Sweeping research effort tackles big question: How to get tutoring that works to more kids
Tutoring is one of the most popular strategies for helping students catch up in the wake of the pandemic. But cost, staffing, and scheduling challenges often make it hard for schools to get these programs off the ground.
A sweeping $10 million research effort announced Thursday aims to tackle that problem by studying 31 different tutoring initiatives across the country this school year. The goal is to answer some of the biggest open questions about how schools can put successful tutoring programs in place for more students — and then figure out if they worked.
The good and bad of virtual on-demand tutoring
In a recent study, we report on the implementation of opt-in, on-demand tutoring in partnership with the Aspire Public Schools (a charter management organization, or CMO) in California. The CMO provided 7,000 middle and high school students with free, unlimited access to one-on-one chat-based tutoring during the spring 2021 semester. Students accessed the program from a mobile device and could request help from an available tutor in any core subject. The topic of each tutoring session was usually driven by student questions and the interaction between tutors and students were chat-based with help from a virtual whiteboard to facilitate joint work.
SB 545
Requires The Iowa Department of Education to form a learning recovery task force to evaluate the degree of learning loss experienced by students due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The task force is expected to study, identify, and recommend remedial measures, of which specialized, individualized tutoring is outlined as an option. The bill outlines requirements for the make-up of the task force which includes: demographics, educator types, and other stakeholders.
Dakota Dreams Online Tutoring Program
Provides free online tutoring for K-12 students in South Dakota in English, math, science and social studies. Sessions are taught by university students in the School of Education at Northern State University or Black Hills State University.
SB 210
Provides families in South Dakota with an educational savings account (ESA). The bill requires The Department of Education to create a savings account for students who withdrew from public schools and currently attend a non-public school. Public funds are deposited into SEAs and are used to aid students in receiving various educational resources, most relevant is private tutoring.
Oklahoma State Plan for the ARP Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund
Creates a Math Tutoring Corps in partnership with OK colleges and universities to address middle and high school student learning disruption. Specifically, Algebra I tutoring for up to 1,500 grade 7-12 students per year is included. The program will include up to 500 current college and university students annually as tutors. The student-to-tutor ratio will be no more than 3:1. Tutors will be supervised and coached by up to 50 college and university mathematics faculty per year.
Empowering Parents Grants
Provides Idaho caregivers with children in grades K-12 with educational grants of up to $1,000 per student, per year, and up to $3,000 per household. Grants are funded through the $50 million “Empowering Parents Grants” program, an initiative to address pandemic-related learning loss and part of Gov. Brad Little’s “Leading Idaho” initiative. The grant program supports families in acquiring a wide range of education-related expenses, some of which include technology, textbooks, tutoring and therapy services, etc.
Georgia Math and Reading Corps
Funds $47 million in emergency assistance to address the disruptions and challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes a $1.3 million allocation for the teacher pipeline of which $789,730 goes towards the expansion of the Georgia Math & Reading Corps program in Southwest Georgia. The emergency assistance fund allows colleges and universities across Georgia to recruit college students to serve as tutors, specifically in rural districts.
HB 497
Required K-3 students who received a failing grade in a subject to receive tutoring during the first nine weeks of school. The bill also required additional accelerated instruction for students who continue to receive failing grades in any subject for subsequent grading periods. Schools would have been required to form a committee for each student requiring instruction. The committee would have been responsible for developing an educational plan for the student that would provide accelerated instruction over the course of the semester.