High-impact tutoring became one of the core solutions to addressing long-standing achievement gaps worsened by the pandemic. However, while many districts allocated Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds toward such initiatives, fewer than half of states are preparing to continue funding these efforts as federal funds run dry, according to a recent study from Stanford University.
Prior to the 2024–25 school year, many states committed their remaining ESSER money to tutoring, but researchers found that as states adjust to the end of COVID relief funds, only 23 provide competitive grant or formula funding that districts can use for high-impact tutoring.
The benefits of high-impact tutoring have been lauded by researchers and education leaders in recent years due to the impressive gains students can make over just a year. Key characteristics of high-impact tutoring programs include:
- Delivery by a consistent, well-trained tutor
- One-on-one or small group sessions of no more than three students
- Three to five sessions per week during the school day
- Integration with classroom instruction (including high-quality materials that align with classroom curricula)
- Data-driven to respond to individual student needs
“High-impact tutoring is supported by a strong evidence base; however, it can be difficult to implement and scale,” the Stanford report states. “Attention to maintaining the key characteristics of high-impact tutoring can help programs preserve their potential for impact. State level policies and programs can play a pivotal role in setting expectations or requirements for implementation and providing support for districts to deliver this highly effective intervention to students.”
Researchers found states are taking an array of approaches to sustain the ability of local educational agencies to continue high-impact tutoring efforts. Twenty-three states provide competitive grant or formula funding; 24 have developed an approved list of tutoring vendors or offer procurement assistance; 25 provide technical assistance for high-impact tutoring; and nine have partnerships with institutions of higher education to support high-impact tutoring in districts.
California
In its state-by-state summaries, the study notes that California does not have statewide high-impact tutoring programs. Instead, the California Department of Education’s Expanded Learning Opportunities Program allots $4 billion for before- and after-school programming, which can include tutoring, although it would not occur during the school day — one of the key characteristics of high-impact tutoring.
Additionally, in 2022, the State Legislature allocated $7.9 billion to LEAs for use from the 2022–23 through 2027–28 school years to assist students recovering from the pandemic through the Learning Recovery Emergency Block Grant. Accelerating learning through evidence-based learning supports — including individualized or small group tutoring — is one of several permissible uses of the funding.
“Moving forward, states that successfully preserve high-impact tutoring will likely be those that embed it within core educational infrastructure rather than treating it as a temporary pandemic recovery measure,” according to researchers. “We urge state leaders to take inspiration from their peers in other states and review resources that offer inspiration and information for innovation in their high-impact tutoring efforts.”
Tennessee, for example, is the only state that has integrated high-impact tutoring into its ongoing funding formula.
