5.2 Designing Your Model and Pilot

High-impact tutoring has the strongest impact when it works in tandem with the rest of the students’ educational efforts. While some decisions about tutoring program design are straightforward, others require finesse to ensure the tutoring amplifies and enhances student learning that is already taking place in Tier I instruction. Furthermore, pressure testing these decisions in a pilot can save the district money and prevent stakeholder frustration because changes can be made swiftly on a small-scale. Section 5.2 provides the essential tools for districts to design a research-based tutoring model, check for instructional coherence and content alignment, and conduct a program pilot.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

To guarantee your program is designed for success, ensure you have completed the following tasks:

Review the existing district initiatives and agreed-upon focus areas and goals.
Engage with educators and caregivers in decision-making.
Clarify the available budget to inform decisions about staffing costs and program scale.

TUTORING MODEL DESIGN
Key Recommendations	Corresponding Resources
Determine key tutoring model elements, including tutor type, instruction, scheduling, and tutor-student ratio.	Reflection Guide: Building Your Own Program: Making Tutoring Model Decisions Reading: The seven elements of high-impact tutoring Reading: Guidance for Determining Tutor Type
Develop ways to mitigate district limiting factors, such as scheduling and resource constraints.	Playbook Subsection: 3.2 Funding and Budgeting

INSTRUCTIONAL COHERENCE AND CONTENT ALIGNMENT
Key Recommendations	Corresponding Resources
Integrate the tutoring approach with the district’s broader instructional framework.	Example: Haywood County Case Study Reading: Early Literacy Success for All Students: A Coherent Path Forward
Craft a Logic Model to explain how the tutoring model, its supports, and all stakeholders will interact to produce the desired results.	Template: Building Your Own Program: Developing a Logic Model with Example (PDF Available) Example: Guilford County Public Schools Tutoring Program Logic Model
Determine if the program will use existing high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) or if a selection process is necessary to adopt HQIM.	Playbook Subsection: 5.3 Selecting and Using High-Quality Instructional Materials
Align tutoring sessions with the curricula and instructional strategies to reinforce core concepts and accelerate learning during monthly reviews with curriculum team and educator engagement.	Template: Curriculum Alignment for Tutoring Materials (Word Document Available) Toolkit: Fostering Collaboration with Educators

PROGRAM PILOT
Key Recommendations	Corresponding Resources
Invest time engaging with stakeholders involved in the pilot.	Playbook Subsection: 3.3 Engaging Stakeholders
Launch a pilot phase to test the program’s design, operations, and instructional strategies.	Reading: Tips for Designing and Conducting a Pilot Program Template: City Bridge Pilot Plan (PDF Available)
Use pilot data to identify areas for improvement and implement necessary adjustments.
Create a plan to scale the program gradually, ensuring sustainability.
Monitor evidence of the program’s impact to support ongoing improvement and funding efforts.

	PLANNING FOR LONG TERM
	Review the Logic Model yearly to determine if adjustments need to be made. Implement strategies to ensure an ongoing process of continuous improvement.

Tutoring Quality Standards and Self-Assessment Indicators
Take the free, 15-minute, and research-based Local Education Agency (LEA) Self-Assessment. This subsection addresses these tutoring quality standards and Self-Assessment indicators.
Cohesion Program Design	The program is designed to successfully meet the needs of the community it serves.
6a.2 \| An understanding of the inputs and actions required for your program to produce its desired results 6a.3 \| A well-defined program model with intentional and consistent choices across various dimensions (Model Dimensions)
Instruction Ratio	The ratio of students to tutor in the program is low and does not exceed 4:1.
3h.1 \| Staffing plan with student-tutor ratio that does not exceed 4:1 3h.2 \| Staffing plan with student-tutor ratio levels aligned with the skills of tutors
Learning Integration Curricular Alignment	If classroom instruction is based on rigorous and high-quality materials, the tutoring program aligns to classroom curricula.
4c.1 \| Access to and understanding of the school’s curriculum materials, including scope and sequence and unit timelines 4c.2 \| A plan to ensure tutoring program complements and is responsive to the classroom instruction that students receive (e.g., the program uses the same vocabulary used in classroom instruction)

District Playbook for High-Impact Tutoring