A pragmatic approach to equity demands investment in interventions that are proven to be effective. One of the most effective of these is high-dosage tutoring, in which students receive at least three tutoring sessions a week of at least thirty minutes for a prolonged period. High-dosage tutoring allows students to build relationships with trained tutors, and gives them access to targeted instruction. While high-dosage tutoring is expensive (roughly $3,500 per student per year), it is considered one of the most cost-effective educational interventions to assist struggling students because of the large positive impact.
The following resources discuss the research behind high-dosage tutoring, as well as guides for effective implementation.
Accelerating Student Learning with High-Dosage Tutoring. (PDF)
Rigorous research provides strong evidence that high-dosage tutoring can produce large learning gains for a wide range of students, including those who have fallen behind academically.
A systematic review of educational studies found that tutoring had effects that were “educationally important, statistically significant, and robust.
As Students Return to School, New Research Finds “High-Dosage” Tutoring Can Reverse Learning Loss.
Students who received Saga tutoring learned as much as an extra two and a half years of math in one academic year – the equivalent to closing up to 50 percent of the black-white test score gap in one school year.