Since the pandemic, school districts have faced persistently high rates of chronic absenteeism. A recent study by Stanford researchers Monica G. Lee, Susanna Loeb, and Carly D. Robinson found that high-impact tutoring increases the likelihood that students show up to school.
The study analyzed Washington DC’s High-Impact Tutoring Initiative, which provided math and reading tutoring to K–12 students with the greatest academic needs. The program primarily served Black and economically disadvantaged students, but also included students with disabilities and English Learners. While programming varied in timing, frequency, and group size, all tutoring was delivered in person, in small groups, during the school year. A total of 141 schools participated, reaching more than 5,000 students.
To identify the causal effect of high-impact tutoring on attendance, the researchers tracked the same students over the 2022-23 school year, comparing attendance on days with scheduled tutoring sessions to days without. On average, students were 1.2 percentage points less likely to be absent when tutoring was scheduled, equal to about a 7 percent reduction in daily absenteeism. The impact was greatest for middle school students and for those who were frequently absent the prior year.
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