成人抖阴

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One year ago, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona to schools still reeling from months of remote instruction during the pandemic: Students who fell behind should receive at least 90 minutes of tutoring each week.

His speech on Jan. 27, 2022, 鈥渓ikely produced a lot of head-nodding,鈥� said Susan Enfield, superintendent of the Washoe County district in Nevada, who caught the live stream that day. Even then, she knew it would be a hard prescription to fill. Students needed one-on-one or small group attention, but there weren鈥檛 enough tutors to go around.

鈥淭he need was so vast,鈥� she said.

On Tuesday, Cardona is set to revisit his administration鈥檚 priorities in a speech titled 鈥淩aise the Bar: Lead the World.” But nearly three years after the pandemic began, the need remains great, if recent test results are any indication. Despite some promising results, school districts hoping to scale up their tutoring efforts are running up against some persistent obstacles. 

Cardona鈥檚 2022 speech was a 鈥済ood use of the bully pulpit,鈥� said Phyllis Jordan, associate director at Georgetown University鈥檚 FutureEd think tank. 鈥淏ut it couldn鈥檛 overcome the implementation problems school districts had 鈥� from finding tutors to signing contracts to getting students and families to commit the time.鈥�

The tight labor market and halting response from families meant districts often served fewer students and offered a fraction of the tutoring hours they鈥檇 originally planned, according to a from CALDER, a research center. For example, one district that set out to offer students 90 sessions throughout the school year ended up giving them an average of 13.

Those who received tutoring weren鈥檛 always the ones who needed the most help, and some districts鈥� efforts faced months of delays due to lengthy contract negotiations with outside providers. 

Even now, some parents can鈥檛 get tutoring for their children when they need it 鈥� parents like Tamara Miles of Nashville, whose 9-year-old daughter Faith risks repeating third grade because she鈥檚 so far behind in reading. 

Her school, Westmeade Elementary, participates in a district tutoring program that  currently serves 3,100 students. But district spokesman Sean Braisted said it鈥檚 not an 鈥渙pen enrollment鈥� program 鈥� students are selected by teachers and administrators based on test scores. 

Those not chosen, like Faith, can participate in a summer program or receive tutoring next year, he said. 

But Miles fears that will be too late. 鈥淪he鈥檚 lost so much confidence in herself,鈥� she said.

Rebuilding students鈥� self-esteem requires ongoing support from the same tutor, said Susanna Loeb, an education researcher at Stanford University. Those relationships, she said, allow students to take risks and work until they understand the material.

In the year since Cardona鈥檚 address, she said she鈥檚 seen real improvement in some district鈥檚 ability 鈥渢o actually pull off harder, more intensive support for students.鈥�

That鈥檚 partly due to her previous work at Brown University on the . The center summarizes important research about high-dosage tutoring 鈥� likely the inspiration, Loeb said, for Cardona鈥檚 prescription for 鈥�30 minutes per day, three days a week, with a well-trained tutor.鈥�

The 鈥� which the Biden administration launched last July 鈥� is another attempt to connect schools and families with organizations and individuals willing to put in that kind of time. 

The team offers advice to states and districts and runs a that fields requests from potential tutors and mentors. Next month, Robert Balfanz, the Johns Hopkins education professor leading the effort, plans to provide further updates on work to connect districts to volunteers.

The education department did not respond to requests for comment.

鈥榃ay ahead鈥�

Colleges and universities are especially valuable sources of tutors, Loeb said, pointing to efforts in the Guilford County, North Carolina, schools. Working with three local universities, the district has built a tutoring corps of 670 undergraduate and graduate students.

鈥淲e were way ahead,鈥� Jusmar Maness, the district鈥檚 chief academic officer, said about Cardona鈥檚 speech. She credited former Superintendent Sharon Contreras with implementing the high-dosage model during  the 2020-21 school year. 鈥淲e saw an immediate demand. Our challenge was trying to find the team to manage the speed with which the program has grown.鈥�

To finance its efforts, officials combined federal relief funds with a $2 million grant earmarked in the federal budget for the program, . The district pays the undergrads $25 an hour and covers an average of over $40,000 in tuition and fees for the graduate students. They receive training and 鈥渁lmost become staff members of the schools,鈥� Maness said.

Like the students they help, many of the tutors are Black and Hispanic, so kids 鈥渟ee themselves reflected in higher education,鈥� she said. And the majority of the college students are not in teacher preparation programs, so they 鈥渆xpose students to majors that local universities offer.”

Encouraging in-classroom use

Meeting with the same tutor over time 鈥� as students do in  Guilford 鈥� especially benefits students in the elementary grades, . 

But many districts also spend relief funds on virtual, around-the-clock homework help. One service, Tutor.com 鈥� affiliated with test prep company Princeton Review 鈥� provided almost 2 million tutoring sessions in 2022, according to CEO Joshua Park. 

The platforms tend to benefit students who are 鈥渟elf-motivated and bring their own questions,鈥� Loeb said. Washoe County has a contract with Paper, another on-demand service that Enfield said is ideal for older students.

鈥淭he way high schoolers’ body clocks work,鈥� she said, 鈥渢hey’re doing their calculus homework at 11:30 at night.鈥�

But such programs don鈥檛 deliver the same results as in-person, high-dosage tutoring, which Loeb said is the 鈥渙nly way that we really know how to re-engage students and help them catch up if they are way behind on learning.鈥�

The Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia in October showing that when Tutor.com first became available, few students logged on. 

And last year, most students used it for less than an hour 鈥� an 鈥渁mount of time that is unlikely to yield tangible benefits to student achievement, particularly for those with greater academic need,鈥� the report said. 

Tracy Compton, whose daughters Lucy and Morgan, attend a Fairfax elementary school, said she can understand why some students get frustrated with the service and don鈥檛 use it. Lucy, her oldest, tried the platform last year to prepare for a test on adding and subtracting fractions. But it took 15 minutes waiting in a Ticketmaster-like queue and figuring out how to use the laptop鈥檚 camera to photograph Lucy鈥檚 worksheet before a tutor got on the phone. 

She said both daughters remain two years behind in reading and math.

鈥淚 can’t turn Tutor.com on and say, 鈥楩ill the gap,鈥� 鈥� she said. 鈥淗ow does a second grader know they are not reading on level and what vowel sounds they need to focus on?鈥�

Loeb and her colleagues at Brown found when they examined a charter network, Aspire Public Schools, that uses Paper. Less than 20% of students in a sample of 1,188 signed on to the program. Participation increased to 26% when messages went to both parents and students. But some only signed on once, and students with the worst grades were still the least likely to use it.

Leaders of both Paper and Tutor.com said teachers are increasingly connecting students to the platforms during the school day, which can increase student use at home. Last year, in-classroom use accounted for a third of all Tutor.com sessions, Park said. 

鈥淯ptake increases with time and dedicated effort, and we are working together with Fairfax leaders to build awareness about the program,鈥� said Sandi White, senior vice president for institutional partnerships at Tutor.com and Princeton Review.

Even before the Brown study, Paper was tweaking its model to , CEO Philip Cutler said in an email. The company added math games and college essay reviews for students preparing for college.

The Brown research, he said, shows that students who take advantage of it make gains 鈥� and are more likely to pass all their classes.

Loeb noted that offering students a mix of both high-dosage tutoring and on-demand help  makes sense. 

鈥淒istricts are using a variety of different approaches, she said, 鈥渁nd in the end, that could be the right model.鈥�

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