Case for Action

Urgent Need to Accelerate Student Learning

The COVID-19 pandemic shuttered schools across the nation, causing extended disruptions for over 50 million public school students and putting at risk their learning and future opportunities. Low-income, Black and Latinx students bore a disproportionate cost — the same students who experience poorer educational opportunities even under ordinary circumstances.

High-Impact Tutoring Provides Opportunity

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government has allocated over 200 billion new dollars for K-12 education. This funding represents a massive investment in our nation’s schools; spending it wisely will enable our students to thrive.

Research, experience, and simple logic shows that our best bet is to focus on the individual needs of each student — both academic needs and social-emotional needs. Teachers have valiantly helped their students transcend challenges related to the pandemic and independent of it; but, many students need a level of personal attention targeted to their specific needs that can rarely be delivered in a traditional classroom.

Well structured tutoring, what is commonly known as high-impact tutoring, delivers just this. When students build relationships with tutors in a high-impact tutoring program that complements classroom instruction, they show significant academic and social-emotional growth that benefits them as they move through school and beyond.

What is high-impact tutoring? It’s not drop-in after-school homework help. Rather, it is one-on-one or small group tutoring, delivered at least three times a week by trained tutors using high-quality materials, ideally during the school day. This kind of focused program is effective, even for students who are far behind their peers academically. However, educators are currently overwhelmed with change and not all tutoring is effective.

The National Student Support Accelerator Exists to Accelerate the Growth of High-Impact Tutoring Opportunities for K-12 Students in Need

The open-source National Student Support Accelerator (Accelerator) tools and resources can help create more equitable access to quality tutoring. These research-backed tools and supports are easy to use and downloadable, and are designed to make structuring, implementing and scaling high-quality, high-impact tutoring programs as straightforward as possible.

To support states, districts and schools in creating more high-impact tutoring opportunities, the Accelerator focuses on three strands of work:

  • Catalyzing the field of tutoring by creating communities of practice, building consensus around standards, and coordinating research efforts;
  • Accelerating the growth of high-impact tutoring by providing open access tools and technical assistance to schools, districts and states interested in implementing tutoring and to tutoring providers interested in improvement; and
  • Engaging and activating stakeholders to build demand and ensure funding.

As we continue our work to increase access to High-Impact Tutoring to students in need, we encourage you to join us by getting involved!