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High-quality tutoring programs not only get students up to speed in reading and math, they can also reduce absenteeism, a shows.

Focused on schools in Washington, D.C., the preliminary results show middle school students attended an additional three days and those in the elementary grades improved their attendance by two days when they received tutoring during regular school hours.  

But high-impact tutoring 鈥攄efined as at least 90 minutes a week with the same tutor, spread over multiple sessions 鈥� had the greatest impact on students who missed 30% or more of the prior school year. Their attendance improved by at least five days, according to the study from the National Student Support Accelerator, a Stanford University-based center that conducts tutoring research. 

Susanna Loeb, who leads the center, called the data 鈥渢he first evidence of a strong causal link between tutoring specifically and attendance.鈥� 

Hedy Chang, executive director of the nonprofit Attendance Works, said it makes sense that students come to school more often when they鈥檙e keeping up in class and getting good grades. 

鈥淧art of why kids don鈥檛 show up is because they don鈥檛 feel successful in school,鈥� she said. Forming a connection with a tutor over several weeks or months can also make students more motivated to attend, she added. 鈥淚 do think it’s an impact of high-dosage tutoring, not necessarily just tutoring.鈥�

The early findings, which will be expanded in a future paper, reinforce the benefits of offering high-impact tutoring during the school day. The extra instructional time helps schools address two of their biggest post-pandemic problems 鈥� learning loss and chronic absenteeism, the researchers said. The White House has urged districts to not only target remaining federal relief funds toward those areas, but explore ways to sustain those efforts when they dry up. 

Districts that continue tutoring programs will likely keep 鈥渟tudent achievement top of mind,鈥� Loeb said, 鈥渨ith greater engagement 鈥� including increased attendance 鈥� as another outcome they hope to see.鈥�

also demonstrated how to successfully integrate tutoring sessions into the school day. The state education agency, which has spent $35 million on the program, funds staff members in charge of rearranging the schedule to accommodate the sessions and track data on student participation.聽

鈥淭hey took that off the plate of the principal,鈥� Christina Grant, D.C.鈥檚 state superintendent, said at a January conference hosted by Accelerate, an organization that works to scale high-dosage tutoring. She added that working with researchers like those from Stanford can help districts communicate the impact of federal relief funds. Without those partnerships, she said, 鈥渨e would look back three years later and not be able to tell the authentic story around what happened to $35 million.鈥�

The district, which had a chronic absenteeism rate of last school year, began its tutoring program in 2021. Officials awarded grants to a variety of providers, including , which focuses on high school math and teacher preparation program.

Sousa Middle School, in southeast D.C., works with George Washington University鈥檚 , which pays college students interested in STEM or education to work as tutors.

鈥淢y challenge, when this program first began, was getting students to come and not look at it as a form of punishment,鈥� said Sharon Fitzgerald, Sousa鈥檚 tutoring manager. Now students who have 鈥済raduated鈥� out of the program ask why they can鈥檛 come back. 

Students responded well, she said, because it鈥檚 a 鈥渂reak away from seeing their regular teachers every day鈥� and because they look up to the college students. The tutors, she added, also have a clever way of giving students a taste of how much more they鈥檒l learn during their next meeting and if they attend class everyday.

鈥淚t was what the tutors left them with in the last session that encouraged them to come to school,鈥� Fitzgerald said.

The results are likely to spark more interest in how tutoring and attendance initiatives can work in tandem.

鈥淲e have not intentionally used tutors as a way to address attendance. I can imagine that it could help if part of their work focused on that,鈥� said A.J. Gutierrez, co-founder of Saga Education. 鈥淚 see potential.鈥�

Chang, with Attendance Works, said the results are 鈥渙n the right track,鈥� but don鈥檛 go far enough. During the , several states still had chronic absenteeism rates over 30%, including Alaska, New Mexico and Oregon.

Tutoring doesn鈥檛 address all of the barriers that keep students from attending school, like health conditions or bullying, she said. But tutors could refer students to school attendance teams when those concerns surface.

鈥淲hat more could we get,鈥� she asked 鈥渋f tutoring was tied to a bigger strategy, a more comprehensive approach?鈥� 鈥�

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