For a year and a half in 2023 and 2024, Cohen traversed the country, interviewing educators, researchers and policymakers and observing tutoring sessions in seven states and the District of Columbia. 

Now the vice president of policy for the education group , Cohen shares her findings in a new book, out today from Harvard Education Press: .

She explores 鈥渢he accidental experiment鈥� that took place across American schools starting in 2020, as researchers figured out the principles of what was originally called 鈥渉igh-dosage tutoring鈥� but has come to be known as 鈥渉igh-impact tutoring.鈥� 

Its four pillars, according to Stanford鈥檚 : 

1. It must take place at least three days a week.
2. Sessions last at least 30 minutes.
3. Sessions are with a consistent tutor.
4. There are no more than four students working in a group. 

The moment couldn鈥檛 have been more tailor-made for such a comprehensive intervention. In the course of just a few months, federal aid to K鈥�12 schools more than tripled, with districts slated to get at least 90% of the new funding. Federal rules eventually dictated that they reserve at least 20% of the largest pot of money to treat pandemic-related learning loss. Tutoring, Cohen writes, 鈥渜uickly became the watchword of how learning loss should be addressed.鈥�

Cohen interviewed everyone from Stanford scholar Susanna Loeb, whose research helped lay the groundwork for the movement, to Katreena Shelby, a Washington, D.C., middle school principal who somehow found a way to get a tutor for every student in her school.

Ahead of the book鈥檚 publication, Cohen spoke to 蜜桃影视鈥檚 Greg Toppo about her findings and her belief that, despite the bleakness of the past few years, educators 鈥渨ant to do good things for kids, and they’re willing to try new things.鈥�

Their conversation has been edited for length and clarity. 

I want to start with a kind of impertinent question: I believe it was former U.S. Education Secretary Bill Bennett who said that many schools serve up what he called a “14-egg omelet.” Have you heard of this?

No, but I like where it’s going.

When what they’re doing doesn’t work, they just do more of the same. I’m guessing you would say that high-impact tutoring does not resemble one of Bennett’s lousy omelets. Are schools truly doing something different?

It’s, of course, impossible to answer universally for every school and every tutoring program. And there have been tutoring programs that haven’t been super additive. But at this point, the schools that have implemented high-impact or high-dosage tutoring within the definition of what that is 鈥� and to the gold standard that the evidence suggests 鈥� are offering something different. Whether that’s home fries on the side of the omelet or a salad, you can choose, but it’s something else.

You write that a couple of places have done better jobs than others. New Mexico, for instance, seems to have made a few missteps. What’s the difference between places where tutoring is working and where it’s not?

Where tutoring works the best is where it is a strategy in service of a broader goal. Sometimes in education we make the mistake of thinking the thing is the goal, and tutoring isn’t the goal. I don’t want people to do tutoring just to do tutoring. I care if kids are learning in school, and so the places that are doing a great job with tutoring, first of all, are doing tutoring in service of the goal of improving learning, and that means it’s often connected to lots of other pieces around instruction, curriculum and all sorts of other things. One is being strategic. Two is recognizing that to do this kind of program well requires a lot of effort on the implementation side, and being willing to put in the resources necessary. Literally assigning someone at a district or at a school a role of high-impact tutoring manager 鈥� who a significant part, if not all, of their job for some period of time is making sure this program is working 鈥� is another hallmark of places that have had success as well.

When you were in Louisiana, you looked at this Teach for America Ignite program, and you mention that it’s become a strong pipeline for TFA Fellows and, by extension, teachers. Should we look at tutoring as a pipeline for teaching?

I think so. We have an evergreen population of college students, even if fewer than we used to. We’re always going to have some amount of college students. And what’s generally true about those young adults is that a lot of them are looking for ways to make some money, and a lot of them are not sure what they really want to do with their lives. So one of the interesting things 鈥� and the TFA program highlights this 鈥� is that when you create opportunities for young people to be involved in education, as a tutor, for example, they start thinking, “Oh, maybe this is a career that I would want to do.”

I like to joke that teacher unions have done such a great PR job that they’ve actually convinced people that they shouldn’t want to be teachers. They’ve convinced the American public that teachers don’t get paid enough and aren’t respected. And if you look at parent polls, more than 50% of parents in this country say they to become teachers.

But what we’ve learned from some of the tutoring with college students is that when you actually give them a positive framework to enter the education space and interact with young people in this way, they start thinking about it. It’s not just the TFA program 鈥� I would say also the in charter schools in New York and New Jersey, that also has had partnerships in D.C. and other places. Similarly, they’re using college grads through the AmeriCorps program. A lot of those young people end up sticking around and becoming teachers.

At a school in D.C., you met Delilah, who you say could easily pass for a high school student, but she’s doing this great job leading students on a lesson about Homer鈥檚 Odyssey. It made me think that tutoring could blur the boundaries between who is an effective teacher 鈥� and how we find them. Do you have any thoughts on that?

I don’t know about 鈥渂lur,鈥� but it certainly broadens how we might think about who can play effective roles in the learning of young people. And we see that in a few places. This isn’t in the book, but in Chattanooga, Tenn., they had a that started during COVID where they actually hired high school students to tutor elementary school students. And those high schoolers, I believe, were getting school credit, and were getting paid. I spoke with this young woman, and she would literally walk down the hill from her high school to the elementary school, where she worked as a tutor and got real-world experience. She said she felt like she was treated like one of the staff at the school, and it was an incredibly positive experience. She is now graduating high school a year early and enrolling at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville to become a teacher, and she’s the first person in her family to go to college. 

The other thing that I did write about is the way that education schools are rethinking the role of tutoring in teacher prep. We have all these college kids or young adults that we might want to expose to education. But then what about those who already think they want to work in education? The dean of the ed school of Bowling Green State University, which is the biggest teacher prep program in Ohio, has always been committed to giving kids as much field work and experience as possible, because she says, “I want to make sure before I send these students as graduates into classrooms, that that’s really where they want to be. How many different kinds of opportunities can we give people who think they want to be teachers to actually play teacher-like roles?” And so they’ve really leaned into tutoring. They think that the experience of me, Liz, trying to really just help Greg master how to read or how to do third-grade math is going to help me in the classroom, but also gives me more touch points to make sure this is really what I want to do. 

Another way to think about that: A principal in Alexandria, Va., told me, “The one thing I’m always looking for is how do I get my kids more time? More time learning. How do we give our kids more time?” And it wasn’t just him that I heard this from. This is a repeated theme that school leaders and teachers feel: Tutoring helps them add time. Time on task, quality learning time. And time is often the most precious resource we have in education, and that is how a lot of folks are thinking about this.

One of the things you say is that if tutoring is woven into a school culture, the relationship that the student has with the tutor can be this “fulcrum that changes the student’s trajectory.” You’re imagining that tutoring could really transform schools at a very basic level, that the student-tutor relationship is transformative for a lot of kids.

That’s right. What made this story so powerful was the power of the relationships. To me, the big takeaway is that young people are really hungry for meaningful adult relationships in ways beyond what even the best classroom teacher can possibly give to a full classroom of kids. Even when I interviewed some of those TFA college tutors, the thing they would tell me that surprised them about their experience was that kids were willing to open up to them even after just building a relationship on a Zoom call and doing tutoring. And I don’t know if it’s because after the pandemic there had been so much disconnect and isolation that people were hungry for a reconnect, or if it’s just a truism of human nature that we like to have relationships with other humans.

There’s something really powerful about bringing more people in to interact with young people in education, in an educational setting, in a variety of ways. And that’s why, even though generally I’m pretty bullish on tech 鈥� I don’t write in the book at all about AI because the stuff’s being built too rapidly 鈥� while tech can inform and empower, what’s happened, at least in the last five years, is really a story about human relationships, and it’s worth telling in a time when people feel more separate.

Near the end of the book, you talk about one way to make tutoring work on a large scale, something called outcomes-based contracting. Would you like to talk about that?

I wrote a whole chapter about contracting, and tried to make it so you wouldn’t fall asleep while you read it. Partly why I dedicated so much space to it is because I actually think that we spend a lot of money on education in this country 鈥� we really do 鈥� and we don’t often get a lot for it. And so it’s interesting that we have this model now. Tutoring is the perfect case study to do an outcomes-based contract, because we have potentially clear outcomes that we’re trying to measure: We want kids to grow a certain amount, and then we can actually link the money to what we’re getting from it. 

Especially now that federal COVID funds are gone, district and state budgets are tightening. I hope we don’t throw the success of tutoring that we’ve had to the wayside and instead think about how do we continue helping it deliver on its promise? And so if you can measure it and then pay only for getting the results that you want, that seems worthwhile, and something that we probably haven’t spent enough time exploring.

Speaking of ESSER funds, that’s a lot of money that’s basically gone. You mention AmeriCorps as well 鈥� AmeriCorps is either. Going forward, where can schools turn if they want to fund these sorts of things? What’s out there that is not at so much risk?

First of all, some districts are using their Title I funds. Now, those Title I funds might have been used for something else, and so you have to maybe make some tough choices 鈥� and I’m not going to say you should definitely do tutoring. I’m saying you should look at the evidence: What are you getting out of whatever it was you were doing? If you’re already doing tutoring and it’s going well, I’d rather a district keep it and give up something else that’s not working as well.

Ector County, Texas, has kept their tutoring program going to some extent, using Title I funds. Some other districts have done some similar work, even as districts like Guilford County, N.C., are having to scale back. But they are repurposing existing Title I funds, often to do this. One reason it’s really important to continue making the case for tutoring鈥檚 impact is that you can convince state legislatures, in some places at least, to fund tutoring. Louisiana put , both for last school year and this current year, into high-impact tutoring. And the funny thing about Louisiana is I didn’t even end up writing about it because it was happening so quickly last year while I was trying to finish the book.

I was like, “Wow, it’s a lot of money. Is this really going to happen?” And this year, 2025-2026, Louisiana is tutoring something like 240,000 kids using $30 million from their state budget, and I think some other district funds too, in a pretty effective model tied to their Science of Reading and their math work. And they have funded a lot of other pieces too, around curriculum, teacher professional development and instructional coaches. So for them, tutoring is that exact thing I said earlier about being a strategy within their broader goal of how to overhaul core instruction 鈥� and the state’s put in real money for it.

Connecticut passed to continue some high-impact tutoring work. But then in other states, we aren’t seeing that. Where to look for money? Can you convince your state legislatures to support tutoring because it works? Some places are able to do that.

And also some city budgets: The mayor in D.C. has . And the mayor in Nashville has into tutoring. 

At the end of the book, you lay out these three truisms from your reporting: “1. Public schools are hungry for new ideas that work. 2. Tutoring works. 3. Nothing is perfect.” It sounds like you’re a bit impatient here, and just want us to sort of get on with it. 

I do! Every single day you have kids showing up to school, and those kids either want to learn or it’s our job to help them want to learn, and we need to figure out the tools to do that. If you look, for instance, at continued problems with chronic absenteeism, we flipped a switch during the pandemic, and we thought we could just flip it back on.  That’s not what’s happened. So I believe we have to continue the sense of urgency that we had in 2021 and 2022, because there are kids every day in our schools. But the other thing I really want people to know is that in all of these places I went, people want to do good things for kids, and they’re willing to try new things and implement new programs and make big changes.

That’s not the reputation that K-12 public education has overall. And I want people to believe that that is part of the story of public education in the United States in 2025. I want us to get on with it, because it’s what people want to do. So let’s just do the thing.

鈥淭he more the children know you and trust you, the more they’re willing to engage in what you’re trying to teach them,鈥� said Susana Aguilar, one of 鈥檚 鈥渓iteracy liberators.鈥� 

The evaluation, from the Center on Reinventing Public Education at Arizona State University, calls community members 鈥渦ntapped pools of talent鈥� in the effort to improve student achievement.

Oakland Unified鈥檚 model, said researcher and lead author Ashley Jochim, also has broader implications for how schools teach basic skills in reading and math. For too long, she said, one teacher has been responsible for modifying lessons to meet the needs of 25 or more students. 

鈥淭his model is clearly failing students and puts extraordinary demands on educators, especially coming out of the pandemic,鈥� she said. 鈥淥akland’s tutoring model shows what’s possible when we create the conditions needed to individualize instruction based on students’ learning needs.鈥�

鈥楬ow far could they go?鈥� 

The Oakland REACH to improve literacy instruction before the pandemic and joined with the local NAACP to push the district to adopt a research-based reading program.

The group criticized the quality of remote learning during COVID. But then it created its own online to focus on structured reading skills and saw promising results. After five weeks of virtual summer learning, some as much as they would from two months of in-person reading instruction, data showed. 

鈥淲e saw these big gains. You can’t ignore that,鈥� said Lakisha Young, the organization鈥檚 CEO. 鈥淲e had to ask, 鈥榃hat does this look like for a paraprofessional who is appropriately trained, trusted and coached? How far could they go?鈥� 鈥�

The group expanded to serve students during the school year, and last year, received a significant boost from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, who donated $3 million to the organization. Its work, and its , has evolved, Young said, from 鈥渄emanding to building.鈥�

In statement to 蜜桃影视, a district spokesman said its literacy efforts 鈥渉ave only been amplified and supported by partnering with a dedicated organization such as The Oakland REACH.鈥�

As a bridge between the district and the predominantly Black and Hispanic community it serves, The Oakland REACH played a key role in finding a diverse mix of tutors that included a retired educator, a former security guard and several stay-at-home moms. 

鈥淚t’s personal to me because my daughter had to go through the process of long-distance learning,鈥� Aguilar said in released with the report. 鈥淚 completely relate to all the challenges that parents had.鈥�

The prospective tutors completed an eight-week fellowship in which , a nonprofit trainer, taught them how to implement the district鈥檚 . But their preparation 鈥� the topic of a  鈥� was carefully designed to address the challenges facing Black, Hispanic and lower-income job candidates who are juggling work and family life. The sessions included child care, meals, transportation and a $1,675 stipend.

The fellowship also gave tutors space to discuss personal experiences with literacy instruction 鈥� their own and their children鈥檚.

鈥淭heir personal struggles,鈥� according to the paper, 鈥渄eepened their sense of commitment to students鈥� literacy needs.鈥� 

In total, The Oakland REACH recruited 46 parents and other community members to tutor small groups of K-2 students who were reading below grade level. In a survey, about a third of the tutors said they felt somewhat or very unprepared to teach young children when they started, but grew more skilled with the help of ongoing coaching from FluentSeeds.

Aguilar now works at Manzanita SEED Elementary School, where her daughter Aliah is in fourth grade. She described the school, which has a mostly low-income Black, Hispanic and Asian student population, as a 鈥渕elting pot.鈥�

“When you’re serving underprivileged communities,鈥� she said, 鈥渒ids are more receptive if they see people who look like them.鈥� 

Uneven results, 鈥榖udget challenges鈥� 

The program has made its greatest impact in kindergarten. From fall 2022 to spring 2023, tutored students gained nearly a full extra year of learning on the widely used iReady assessment, compared to those who did not receive tutoring, according to the report. But there was little to no difference in outcomes between tutored and non-tutored students in first and second grade.

Those results are not unique to Oakland. Another recent study on a virtual early literacy tutoring model called OnYourMark found minimal impact in second grade. The lack of growth could be due to a mismatch between tutoring and testing, said Susanna Loeb, a Stanford University professor who leads a nationwide tutoring research center and conducted the OnYourMark research.

If tutors are focusing on skills that an assessment doesn鈥檛 measure, 鈥渨e won鈥檛 see learning gains, even if they have them,鈥� she said. 

Overall, however, she described Oakland鈥檚 tutoring effort as a 鈥減roof point鈥� that shows how well-trained community members with credibility among families 鈥渃an meaningfully improve student learning.鈥�

But there鈥檚 still room for improvement. Many tutors were drawn to the position because they care about Oakland students. But the current $16- to $18-per-hour pay rate is a barrier to recruiting more tutors and keeping them, Jochim wrote. 

Aguilar, a single mother, said that while being a tutor is 鈥渕eaningful work,鈥� it doesn鈥檛 pay enough to replace the salary she used to make at her previous human resources job in  Silicon Valley. She makes ends meet by delivering groceries for Instacart and recruiting students for a local college.

The district鈥檚 鈥溾�� make the tutoring initiative a 鈥減romising, yet still-fragile set of reforms,鈥� Jochim wrote. In March, the board the positions, but rejected the plan. The district has relied on federal relief funds to help pay the tutors and is 鈥渨orking out funding for these important positions鈥� once those funds expire next year, a spokesman said.

The recent results should prompt Oakland to stop funding 鈥渓ess effective approaches鈥� to tutoring and invest in what works, Loeb said. 鈥淭his model is a good example of how community groups can provide these resources.鈥�

Disclosure: Walton Family Foundation, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and The Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies provide financial support to and 蜜桃影视.

Not only is the program 鈥� called 鈥� targeted to students who to learn remotely during the pandemic, but the study was conducted by experts who typically advocate for in-person tutoring.

鈥淚 was nicely surprised,鈥� said Susanna Loeb, a Stanford University education researcher and leader of the , which has been tracking efforts to expand high-dosage tutoring. 鈥淭he trick is to get [tutoring] to as many students as we possibly can. Being able to do it virtually could really help in the scaling and expansion of this kind of intensive, individualized attention that many students need.鈥�

The evaluation, conducted in 12 Texas elementary schools as part of the Uplift Education charter network, found that over 1,000 K-2 students in the program scored higher on literacy tests than students without the extra support. The results translated into 26 extra days of learning in letter sounds for kindergartners and 55 extra days on decoding for first graders with a one-on-one tutor. Second graders did not benefit as much from the intervention.

While the virtual program was still less effective than in-person tutoring, the model could be a breakthrough for schools in rural areas and those that have struggled to recruit tutors, Loeb said. Districts’ pandemic recovery efforts have sometimes fallen short because they can鈥檛 find trained educators or volunteers to do the job. And and others has found that only a fraction of students who need extra help take advantage of on-demand virtual tutoring programs. 

OnYourMark Education, a nonprofit, is a contrast to the virtual models that researchers like Loeb have long criticized. It鈥檚 offered four times a week during the school day. The tutors, which include college students, retired educators and those who have worked for other virtual tutoring companies, receive training in the science of reading.

鈥淲e’ve put a stake in the ground that our focus as an organization is to really support students to become proficient readers by the time they reach third and fourth grade,鈥� said Mindy Sjoblom, a former Teach for America middle school teacher and principal who founded OnYourMark in 2021. 

But when the program started with Uplift as a pilot, she wasn鈥檛 sure if the tutors would be able to form strong relationships with young children remotely. 

鈥淲e had to get the timing right,鈥� she said. The 30 minute-blocks they started with didn鈥檛 work well. 鈥淗onestly, that was too long to expect a 5-year-old to sit and attend to anything, not to mention be in front of a screen.鈥�

Twenty minutes, she said, has proven to be the 鈥渟weet spot,鈥� allowing tutors to have informal chats with students 鈥� about what they had for dinner last night, for example, or how their basketball game went 鈥� before diving into a solid 15 minutes of work on decoding and fluency. 

OnYourMark now works with 22 schools in seven states, and Sjoblom said she expects to add more students before the end of this school year. Last fall, Accelerate, an organization funding effective tutoring programs, $250,000 to support the research effort. The organization is also a semifinalist for the , a $1 million award that recognizes successful education providers.

鈥楢 great option鈥�

Loeb鈥檚 team used two common assessments to evaluate the impact of the program 鈥� Dynamic Indicators of Basic Literacy Skills, or DIBELS, and MAP Reading Fluency from NWEA, a testing and research organization.

Kindergartners randomly assigned to OnYourMark recognized 3.5 more letter sounds per minute than students who didn鈥檛 receive tutoring. First graders鈥� mastery of sounds and decoding skills also improved.

Loeb said while the one鈥搕o-one model is clearly stronger, the program is still effective when students work in pairs with a tutor. 

鈥淭his is a great option when staffing is hard,鈥� she said, alleviating the need for tutors to commute and get acclimated to a school. 

The results among second graders were not significant. Sjoblom sees a few reasons for the disappointing outcomes. First, last year鈥檚 second graders were in kindergarten during the 2020-21 school year, when many schools were closed for the pandemic. They didn鈥檛 master a lot of the foundational skills that most kids get in kindergarten and first grade.

Older students struggling to read, she added, get embarrassed and have a harder time staying engaged with tutors remotely.

But Loeb said to get such results from a startup is still impressive. Yasmin Bhatia, the CEO of Uplift, added that future research will focus on the specific skills tutors should focus on with second and third graders.

OnYourMark, she said, has met the network鈥檚 needs in a few ways. First, it鈥檚 hard to find tutoring companies even willing to work with younger students. Most, she said, focus on the 鈥渢ested grades鈥� 鈥� third and higher. School leaders, she added, are 鈥減utting their best talent in those upper level grade levels.鈥�

Uplift, she added, serves a high-poverty population that typically would be unable to afford a private tutor. And when the network offered at-home virtual or afterschool tutoring, participation was inconsistent. Bhatia called OnYourMark 鈥渁nother way to support parents鈥� and ensure young readers are getting the extra help they need.

鈥淲e view it as such a high priority,鈥� she said, 鈥渢hat we made it a part of the school day.鈥�

Disclosure: Overdeck Family Foundation provides support to OnYourMark Education and 蜜桃影视.

When her daughter entered Huntington Park High School in Los Angeles this fall, Vega asked if tutoring was available, but was told only students with F鈥檚 or a teacher鈥檚 referral were eligible.

Vega picked up extra shifts cleaning offices on nights and weekends to pay the $470 a month to get a private tutor. She wonders, however, why that was necessary: The Los Angeles Unified School District is receiving in federal relief funds through the American Rescue Plan 鈥� 20 percent of which has to be spent to address learning loss, according to the law. 

鈥淭he district is really …concentrating on people getting their vaccines,鈥� Vega said in Spanish through an interpreter. “Let鈥檚 let doctors and pediatricians do their job and focus on that. The district needs to focus on learning loss and getting to a good academic level.鈥�

Under the law, tutoring is just one way districts can address learning disruption caused by the pandemic. But with research showing that so-called can provide struggling students the academic boost they need, both parents and policymakers expected to see districts use relief funds on such programs.

Thus far, however, the enthusiasm over tutoring has not translated into widespread adoption. A from Burbio, which tracks schools鈥� responses to the pandemic, shows that out of 1,037 districts nationally, only about a third are spending federal relief funds on tutoring. The Center on Reinventing Public Education鈥檚 ongoing review shows that while 62 out of 100 large districts offer tutoring, most don鈥檛 provide details on their programs and how many students they serve. 

Some districts have addressed learning loss by lengthening the school day or providing small group instruction. Others that have launched tutoring programs either restrict services to specific students or limit the number of sessions available. A shortage of available tutors has only exacerbated the problem.

鈥淭here is good research that high-dosage tutoring has really transformative potential and it’s also true that school systems are struggling mightily to meet the demand,鈥� said Mike Magee, CEO of Chiefs for Change.

In October, another Los Angeles Unified parent, Ada Mendoza, was offered tutoring for her two youngest children twice-a-week at Manchester Avenue Elementary School. One hitch: It only lasted a month.

She signed them up, but had doubts that a month would be enough to make up for a year of distance learning. Eight-year-old Juan Jose was beginning to read when schools shifted to remote instruction, but now struggles with words of three or more syllables, reading comprehension and writing complete sentences.

Her children got the flu in October and missed some sessions. She said Juan Jose鈥檚 teacher told her he is still reading far below grade-level. 鈥淭hey lost a lot of learning, and they need a lot of help,鈥� she said in Spanish through an interpreter.

According to the district, tutoring is available for children with disabilities, long-term English learners in grades three through eight, and foster, homeless and low-income students 鈥渂ased on performance indicators as identified by school sites.鈥�

Mendoza said she can鈥檛 afford a private tutor, but some parents have gone that route. October from the U.S. Census Bureau showed that 3 in 10 families with at least one school-age child had spent their first three monthly child tax credit payments on school-related expenses, including tutoring and afterschool programs.

鈥淕uess we鈥檙e not all spending it on getting our nails done and filet mignon,鈥� quipped Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union, an advocacy organization. The group鈥檚 recent polling showed that more than a third of parents consider not having enough tutoring or to be a major or moderate problem.

The union has launched 鈥� or EPIC 鈥� a 鈥渨atchdog campaign鈥� to follow the $122 billion K-12 schools are receiving through the relief bill. And in Los Angeles, Vega has joined other Los Angeles parents taking part in the nonprofit , which monitors how the district is using relief money to help students get back on grade level.  

Parent Revolution, another Los Angeles advocacy group, wants the district to create an 鈥� for every student. Even if students can get free tutoring, it鈥檚 often a 鈥渂lanket approach鈥� that might not target their needs, said Jay Artis-Wright, executive director of the organization. 

鈥淲e work with populations of families who have academic challenges that preceded COVID and now have a wider gap,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here is a surplus of funds that can support them, but only if we can agree that each child’s academic recovery is unique and should be treated as such.鈥�

鈥楾his giant puzzle鈥�

Districts that have launched tutoring programs say they can鈥檛 serve everyone 鈥� especially as a tight labor market and quarantine requirements continue to fuel personnel shortages.

The Metro Nashville Public Schools, for example, has been able to sign up 500 tutors 鈥� a mix of teachers, paraprofessionals and community volunteers, said Keri Randolph, the district鈥檚 chief strategy officer. But that鈥檚 half the number they had planned to recruit, which means less than 1,000 students are receiving tutoring instead of the 2,000 the district expected to enroll through its $19 million Accelerating Scholars program.

The Delta variant, Randolph said, affected the size of the volunteer pool and she wasn鈥檛 as successful hiring retired teachers as she鈥檇 hoped. 

The program 鈥� 30-minute sessions, three times a week for 10 weeks 鈥� currently targets low-performing first- through third-graders in literacy and eighth- and ninth-graders in math. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 this giant puzzle,鈥� Randolph said, adding that tutoring is 鈥渉ot right now, but people have no idea how hard it is.鈥� 

Staff members at the 46 schools now offering tutoring manage the schedule so teachers aren鈥檛 鈥渙verburdened,鈥� she said. The district tries to schedule the tutoring sessions during the regular school day to avoid the need for extra transportation.

But there are exceptions. Kindall Maupin, who has a daughter in eighth grade at DuPont Hadley Middle School in the district, was only offered a 7:30 a.m. slot for math tutoring 鈥� a time that doesn’t work because her daughter has ADHD and can鈥檛 focus that early in the morning.

鈥淚 feel like if they can have football practice and cheerleading practice at the end of the day, why can鈥檛 we do this then,鈥� Maupin said. She added that she鈥檚 even considered refinancing her house to afford private tutoring. 鈥淚 have been there, literally sitting down to crunch the numbers to see how I could do this.鈥�

Maybe next semester

Experts said the current pressures on local districts affect whether they can pull off a new program on a large scale. 

鈥淢any educators are understandably exhausted from these past 18 months of school disruptions,鈥� said Susanna Loeb, director of the Annenberg Institute at Brown University. 鈥淚mplementing a new program 鈥� no matter how much funding is available for it or how much research supports its effectiveness 鈥� takes effort.鈥�

Jonathan Travers, a partner with Education Resource Strategies, a nonprofit that helps districts address budgeting and staffing challenges, said many districts have contracted with vendors to give students 24-hour access to online homework help.

鈥淲e are trying to be clear that that is not the same thing鈥� as high-dosage tutoring, he said, but added that with districts focusing on filling vacancies and managing quarantines, some are only now shifting to 鈥渁ctually putting canoes out in the pond around accelerating learning.鈥� 

That doesn鈥檛 stop districts from adding tutoring programs next semester, he said. And he added that some who are frustrated with the pace of implementation may push for districts to reimburse parents spending their own money on tutoring.

Marguerite Roza, director of Georgetown University鈥檚 Edunomics Lab, alluded to Travers鈥檚 idea in an this week, suggesting that districts share some of those federal funds with parents who are spending their own time and money helping students catch up. 

鈥淕iven all the labor shortages, and the willingness to pay parents for , it is interesting that districts haven鈥檛 done more to go the route of paying parents to tutor their kids,鈥� she said in an interview. 鈥淲e thought we鈥檇 see some by now.鈥�

Randolph, in Nashville, said she thinks her district needs to do a better job of communicating the other ways the district is to address learning loss, such as funding $18 million for summer school and $6 million for computer-based literacy and math programs.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not just tutoring or nothing,鈥� she said.

Still, she said leaders plan to continue tutoring beyond this period of recovery. That鈥檚 one reason why the district decided to build the program in-house, instead of contracting with a private provider, which can cost per student for a year. That鈥檚 not a sustainable solution, Randolph said. The district is spending $400 per student for the 10-week period.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 think tutoring is just for a COVID response,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f it鈥檚 the right thing to do now, it鈥檚 the right thing to do later.鈥�