By Sarah Novicoff, Susanna Loeb
Research reveals the most effective ways to help young struggling readers through tutoring.
Tutoring has gained popularity as a strategy to improve the academic achievement of struggling students. Intensive, relationship-based tutoring is a highly effective academic support for many students, particularly in the early elementary years when school schedules and classroom routines are flexible (Groom-Thomas et al., 2023). For schools considering how to begin tutoring or where to prioritize resources, early literacy tutoring — which is both effective and feasible — is a good place to start.
Learning to read strongly predicts later life outcomes, including high school test scores (Sparks, Patton, & Murdoch, 2014) and high school graduation (Hernandez, 2011). Early elementary school is when students make the biggest leaps in their reading abilities (Hill et al., 2008). As two-thirds of 4th graders are not meeting proficiency on reading assessments (National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2022), schools have turned to early literacy tutoring to catch students up.
A range of tutoring approaches are available to accelerate young students’ literacy development. Effective programs typically share a few key components. They operate one-on-one, provide students with a consistent tutor, occur during the school day, use high-quality instructional materials, and have concrete methods for monitoring alignment and outcomes. With these elements in place, many programs can be successful.
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