Share high-impact tutoring opportunities with families

Many families want high-quality tutoring for their kids, but they don't always know what's available or what it costs. We have heard from other parents that they want to understand what tutoring options are out there. To do this, we recommend using simple language, sharing information using existing relationships, explaining the costs, highlighting the benefits, and using different ways to spread the word. Here are what strategies we’ve heard to overcome barriers to communication.

What we heard from families 

  • High-impact tutoring is valuable, and many families want their kids to be able to participate.
  • Families aren’t always clear about what high-impact or high-dosage tutoring means.  Providing a clear, research-based definition that aligns with the model your district uses is very important to effective communication. 
  • Families can have difficulty finding high-impact tutoring opportunities that are available free of cost.
  • When a school tells a family their child is receiving high-impact tutoring but it doesn’t meet the definition of high-impact tutoring, it can be frustrating. In particular, families expressed that homework help and inconsistent tutors were areas of frustration for them and their children. 

Recommendations to share opportunities with families

  • Use this accessible language, developed in partnership with families, to frame the information you share, and align the language about your program to the definition of high-impact tutoring.
  • Leverage existing partnerships within your district and community to build relationships with families as you work to communicate program opportunities. Leveraging partnerships could involve working through your district’s Office of Family Engagement and/or school-based family liaisons, for example. 
  • Be clear about whether or not families will need to pay for tutoring.
  • Share the benefits of high-impact tutoring aligned with students’ academic needs. 
  • Encourage teachers to share the opportunities for students to participate in high-impact tutoring (and/or if they’re already receiving services) at parent/teacher conferences and include program information at back-to-school nights. 
  • Share a press release with local media to spread the word.
  • Encourage parent leaders to share the information with other parents in their networks.
  • Concentrate efforts to share opportunities for high-impact tutoring broadly at the start of the enrollment period so that students can receive the maximum benefits from tutoring.
"If you skip over the step of building authentic and trusting relationships with your families and the community, then all of those wonderful initiatives that you attempt to put into place don’t have a strong foundation on which to sit." - Karen Mapp

This short video gives a brief explanation of high-impact tutoring. Consider using this to communicate with families! A Spanish-version of the video is available here.

Communications to share opportunities 

Explore these communications templates that support the goal of effectively communicating high-impact tutoring opportunities to families. The templates focus on the launch of high-impact tutoring programs and can be customized for additional needs.

Additional Resources