“They don’t know how to subtract or regroup.”
“She’s reading two grades below level.”“He needs more one-on-one help, but he doesn’t qualify for an IEP.”
“If only I had more time in the day.”
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in unprecedented declines in academic achievement across reading and math, serving as a stark reminder that - for the foreseeable future - all learners are going to need consistent, intentional high-impact support both in and out of school.
Educators are dealing with a uniquely complex set of challenges right now as they confront academic setbacks and widening opportunity gaps; school districts must also deal with teacher staffing constraints amidst heightened scrutiny and tougher accountability.
High-impact tutoring which, for some schools, served as a way to address students on the periphery, is now taking center stage as a mission-critical strategy to accelerate learning outcomes quickly and equitably. With that said, however, the rush by industry providers to start-up tutoring programs has created some instances where learning gaps are exacerbated rather than mitigated.
With a growing number of online tutoring programs emerging, it’s absolutely vital for district leaders to not only be highly discerning in their choice of partners but also look for specific accountability measures indicative of a share-success model. To that end, district leaders should consider:
- Proven track record of research-based evidence
- Equitable access models
- Fidelity of implementation
- Curriculum integration
The team at FEV Tutor delivers results. It always has.
Online tutoring programs have to support their claims of effectiveness with data and bring a proven track record of improved academic outcomes. It’s not enough to declare that tutors are readily available or cite how quickly they can start a program. There must be long-standing proof that tutoring leads to measurable gains in student achievement. This is non-negotiable.
FEV Tutor’s program utilizes both a usage and an outcome model. While other tutoring programs assert themselves as accessible only through a 24/7, on-demand model, FEV Tutor understands that quality is more important than quantity. Quality moves the needle of student achievement.
And, the impact is evident in schools across the country, including in Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS), an urban Title I district serving a high At-Risk student population; 84% of students from low-income families. The proficiency rates in math and ELA were not meeting annual targets on standardized tests like PARCC. After partnering with FEV Tutor, participants averaged +32.04 scale score points higher than non-participants in the spring of 2019.
BCPS isn’t the only large school district which has shown higher achievement rates through its partnership with FEV Tutor. Dallas Independent School District drove growth of +56% for Algebra I ACP assessments and +50% for English I from winter to spring.
Moreno Valley Unified School District in California showed growth after using FEV Tutor:
69% of FEV Tutor participants met or exceeded their Fall to Spring MAP Growth goals in Math
Evidence matters, now more than ever. School district leaders cannot afford to take a chance on unproven solutions that have not tested their mettle over time. That’s why results matter when it comes to selecting the very best programming for school districts.
FEV Tutor centers its work around every school’s unique needs, each student's specific goals.
Effective online tutoring should be fair and available to all students, so when schools partner with a tutoring program, it’s important to understand not only what they are purchasing, but how it will be delivered to students. With districts’ goals of achieving equitable outcomes, it requires a coordinated effort between:
- Educators
- District administrators
- Community stakeholders
- Tutoring partners
In a recently published article Susanna Loeb, Director at Annenberg Institute at Brown University shared how merely offering on-demand tutoring wasn’t enough to yield results. To call a tutoring program accessible simply because a tutor can be found at any hour of the day is not enough. Accessibility can’t be conflated with availability. Low-performing students need high-quality, personalized instruction that is systemic in nature. Episodic homework help will not lead to meaningful gains nor actually mitigate learning inequities. It’s imperative that services not only reach the highest-need students but also provide targeted, intentional instruction.
Schools are learning ecosystems that deserve careful attention to the resources brought in. That’s why FEV Tutor uses each student’s education data to design research-based programs just for them. This creates a tighter alignment to achieving academic goals.
Loeb also shared that while implementing an effective high-impact tutoring model is challenging due to scheduling and space constraints, it is the most significant, meaningful way to address student achievement:
“The hard work of implementing high-impact tutoring can payoff in
increased learning and increased equity.”
In just one year of the FEV Tutor Partnership with Baltimore City Public Schools, the program focused on customized tutoring models for seven schools. The goal was to drive achievement gains in Math and ELA using an intentional, proactive approach. Relying solely on user-led access wasn’t going to lead to the results BCPS needed. Instead, tutoring was delivered on-site during the school day and after school. BCPS shared students’ iReady benchmark data with FEV Tutor instructional team members to analyze and identify students that would benefit most from Live 1:1 tutoring and create Personalized Tutoring Plans for individual students.
See The FEV Tutor Impact In Our Reach, Research, And Results
Any district considering high-impact tutoring needs to see results from tutoring providers. When initiatives are rushed or rely on tutoring programs with limited experience, the efforts can widen learning gaps. This underscores the importance of holding every high-dosage tutoring program accountable to the same standard to which schools themselves are held accountable. Tutoring is most effective when it is delivered with the same intentionality - and attention to detail - that teachers bring to every classroom.
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At FEV Tutor, our team has worked for a decade to serve students at every level in schools across the country. Our results speak for themselves, but they also speak to an unwavering commitment to hold ourselves accountable to the same standards educators hold themselves. This is important because, at the end of the day, raising the standards for instructional delivery - not just aligning to them - is what leads to real results.
