Even when we say “high-impact tutoring?” What do we mean then? As schools struggle with many of the effects of unfinished education, tutoring has emerged as a potential method to meet students’ educational needs.
“High-impact tutoring” is defined by the National Student Support Accelerator as 1: 1 or as a form of teaching in a small group towards a very specific goal. It is a tutoring that complements the students’ classroom experience, but does not replace it, leading to sufficient learning benefits for students, and it complements what they are learning in the classroom to respond to the needs of individual students.
High-impact tutoring isn’t just homework help, or it’s just exam preparation, so there are key differences between it and most people think of “tutoring”. It is a deliberate, versatile program designed to accelerate students’ learning. High-impact tutoring is not just about focusing on remedial skills; It is about addressing the skills that are necessary for the student to progress and to move forward in those instructive next steps.
How can schools determine if they are applying high-impact tutoring? Ask this question:
1. How often are the sessions? According to current research, the most effective tutoring interventions actually involve three or more sessions per week, with sessions lasting about 30 to 60 minutes per day. And the study further shows that tutoring once a week is not really enough to generate any meaningful gain in terms of acceleration. In addition, most effective tutoring lasts at least 10 weeks, some last the entire school year. That said, elementary students may benefit from shorter but more frequent sessions, for example, 20-minute sessions five times a week.
2. Are the sessions integrated with the school day? When it comes to scheduling, tutoring interventions have more learning benefits than scheduled time during school days or summer. In a recent meta-analysis of tutoring studies, investigators found that the effects of programs conducted during the school day had a greater impact than those conducted after school.
Providing tutoring sessions on or after school increases students’ chances of attending, and facilitates a much more academically focused culture. Providing tutoring on school days eliminates additional barriers – such as transportation – that can prevent students from participating in regular tutoring sessions.
3. What is the student-teacher ratio? Research shows that tutors can effectively instruct three or four students at once, but going beyond this number can quickly turn into small group instruction, which is less personalized and requires much more skill to perform well. Although 1: 1 tutoring is probably the most effective delivery method, the cost may be prohibited for schools; But even a 1: 3 or 1: 4 delivery model has a big positive impact on students ’learning outcomes across a wide range of subjects.
