Evidence-based Practice: High-impact tutoring

Definition

The National Student Support Accelerator (NSSA) recognizes high-impact tutoring programs as those that have either directly demonstrated significant gains in student learning through research studies or have characteristics proven to accelerate student learning.  These characteristics include substantial time each week spent on required tutoring, sustained and strong relationships between students and their tutors, close monitoring of student knowledge and skills, alignment with school curricula, and oversight of tutors to ensure quality interactions. Tutoring has an extensive evidence base, with a recent meta-analysis of 96 randomized evaluations of one-on-one and small-group tutoring finding consistent and substantial positive impacts on learning outcomes. This meta-analysis also found that tutoring delivered by teachers and paraprofessionals was generally more effective than tutoring delivered by nonprofessional staff or parents. Also, programs held during school tended to have larger impacts than those conducted after school. Other research suggests that high dosage has larger effects on student achievement.