As federal pandemic relief funding disappears, school districts face tough decisions about sustaining high-impact tutoring programs that help students succeed. In a recent EdSurge podcast, Malen Professor for Urban Education Policy David Blazar discusses findings from his research on tutoring programs across all 24 Maryland school districts and shares the characteristics of high-quality tutoring.
Blazar says that the biggest risk may not be eliminating tutoring altogether but weakening programs in ways that reduce their effectiveness.
"Tutoring is a primary resource that's been built into school systems for decades, and I don't see that going away," he explains. However, high-intensity tutoring, which is measured by group size, quality and consistency of the tutor and frequency, are expensive to maintain and harder to implement when funding is cut. He expects that tutoring programs may see bigger group sizes and fewer tutoring sessions.
