Tutoring has become a popular prescription for academic recovery, thanks to lots of evidence showing that sustained tutoring blocks at least three times a week can boost students’ improvement trajectories.
Now, two new research studies conclude that one of the critical pieces is making sure it happens during school hours—not outside of them. What’s more, students themselves seem to want to come to school when they know they’re going to receive personalized attention.
In essence, the two findings suggest compounding benefits for embedding extra help in the school day: academic improvement and better attendance.
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Doing in-school tutoring can be challenging. So some principals have devised new support systems and designated on-site coordinators to organize the programs.
Those efforts have helped pay dividends for attendance, too. In the second study, released earlier this month, researchers with Stanford University’s National Student Support Accelerator found that students are 7 percent less likely to be absent on days they have scheduled tutoring sessions. The study, conducted over the 2022-23 school year, examined absenteeism rates of 4,478 students in 141 schools in the District of Columbia.
“There are lots of reasons why students are absent. Being disengaged in school is one reason,” said Nancy Waymack, the director of partnerships and policy at the NSSA."Tutoring is one way that students can have one more meaningful relationship in school. Tutoring can be one tool to move the needle in the right direction.”
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