That鈥檚 when a large suburban school district in Texas, flush with COVID relief funds, signed a contract with a virtual tutoring provider to deliver extra help to students in 28 schools who had fallen below grade level. Research showed that could produce significant gains for students and was far more effective than on-demand models.

But the district鈥檚 program , according to a recent study from Stanford University鈥檚 National Student Support Accelerator, which focuses on studying and expanding effective tutoring. Students even lost ground in reading and would have been better off with 鈥渂usiness-as-usual鈥� support, like small group instruction or using a computer program for extra practice. 

Experts view the findings as a cautionary tale of how tutoring can go wrong.

The district had to wait on background checks for tutors, many students were still chronically absent and the tutoring sessions often conflicted with other lessons or special events. As a result, students didn鈥檛 receive the 30 hours or more required under a mandating tutoring for those who failed the annual state test. Instead of five days a week as planned, 81% of the students attended tutoring three or fewer days, and most students worked with a different tutor every time they attended a session.

The findings reinforce the importance of protecting the time students are supposed to receive tutoring, said Elizabeth Huffaker, an assistant professor of education at the University of Florida and the lead author of the study.

High-dosage models 鈥� featuring individualized sessions held at least three times a week with the same, well-trained tutor 鈥� can still 鈥渄rive really significant learning gains,鈥� she said, 鈥渂ut in the field, things are always a little bit more complicated.鈥�

For parents, the Stanford study can help explain why children might not make gains, even when their district offers extra help, said Maribel Gardea, executive director of MindShiftED, a nonprofit advocacy group and network of about 5,000 parents in the San Antonio area. Despite the billions states received in relief funds, many students still haven鈥檛 reached pre-pandemic levels of performance.

鈥淲e knew that high-dosage tutoring was one of those things that was proven,鈥� Gardea said.  鈥淭here was research, but we never saw those results.鈥�

She urges districts to include parent groups like hers in planning tutoring and choosing providers. But she added that too many parents are unaware their children are behind, much less equipped to judge whether a program is set up for success. 

鈥淭he trust has been lost for such a long time,鈥� she said. 鈥淧arents just send their kids to school and they hope for the best.鈥� 

鈥業t鈥檚 logistics鈥�

The results add to a growing body of research at a time when tutoring has shifted from being viewed as an emergency stopgap to an ongoing teaching strategy, according to released last week from Whiteboard Advisors, a consulting organization. 

The authors鈥� interviews with state and local education leaders, researchers and tutoring providers showed that while many schools lean toward in-person tutors, 鈥渆ffective virtual models persist鈥� in many districts. Going forward, they expect more schools to use tutoring as a pipeline for recruiting and training new teachers.

Districts have learned a lot about tutoring since that first, full year back after school closures, one in which districts saw staff shortages, record levels of absenteeism and disruptive behavior from students. have passed legislation to support tutoring or provide at least some short-term funding to keep programs running now that federal relief funds have expired. Some districts, including , are designing contracts that reward tutoring providers with more money when students pass tests or make other significant gains.

Recent shows an increase since December 2022 in the share of schools offering high-dosage tutoring, from 37% to 42% 鈥� especially in the South. But the results of the study show that just giving tutoring a high-dosage label doesn鈥檛 mean students will receive the help they need.

鈥淚t鈥檚 logistics,鈥� said T. Nakia Towns, chief operating officer at Accelerate, which funds research on tutoring and other recovery efforts. 鈥淵ou have to have the scheduling. You have to have the identification of the students.鈥�

High mobility, absenteeism

To encourage the tutoring provider and the Texas district to participate in the study, the researchers didn鈥檛 identify them. But an official with the district, who spoke on background, told 社区黑料 that one reason tutoring didn鈥檛 start until the middle of the school year was because leaders waited for winter test data to ensure they were selecting students who needed the most help.

The state required tutors to pass federal background checks, a process that added delays, and it took time to find bilingual tutors and those with special education experience. Students who were furthest behind academically 鈥渨ere also the same students who had high mobility or high absentee rates,鈥� the official said. 

School assemblies interfered with the tutoring schedule, and some principals, the official said, were less supportive of virtual tutoring in general. Now, he said, the district offers in-person afterschool tutoring as one option, but also builds intervention time into the school day for all students.

Tutoring during school hours increases the chances that students will actually get the service, but the model creates some challenges, Huffaker said. Tutoring is now 鈥渃ompeting with other instructional practices during the school day.鈥� 

That includes lessons that teachers are presenting to the whole class and don鈥檛 want students to miss, the district official added.

Recent findings from another tutoring study, the , provides further proof that the more tutoring students receive, the greater their gains. But the 鈥渂ad news,鈥� according to the researchers, from the University of Chicago and MDRC, was that students often didn鈥檛 receive as much tutoring as originally planned.

鈥淐onversations with the operators suggest schools felt they simply had too many competing demands on limited instructional time,鈥� the authors wrote.

Another takeaway from the Stanford study is the 鈥渃ritical role鈥� of relationships between tutors and students, said Rahul Kalita, co-founder of Tutored by Teachers, a virtual provider with a network of over 6,800 certified teachers. In the , one of its largest clients, students are approaching pre-pandemic levels in reading, and nearly 70% of third graders passed a reading test this year required for promotion to fourth grade. 

Without 鈥渃onsistent, human-to-human connection,鈥� Kalita said, results will be similar to on-demand 鈥渆dtech tools鈥� that researchers have found to be ineffective.

鈥楽tart with the curriculum鈥�

Not only did Texas students not receive enough tutoring, the research team found a weak relationship between their sessions and the material they needed to know for tests. Tutors covered about a third of the math standards and only about half that in reading. 

But this is an area where some tutoring companies have shown improvement, said Towns, with Accelerate. More successful providers, she said, 鈥渞eally start with the curriculum,鈥� and hire experts with 鈥渄eep knowledge around literacy or math.鈥� 

now show that remote tutoring can be just as effective as in-person programs. That鈥檚 why she encouraged districts not to give up on virtual models.

鈥淐oming out of the pandemic,鈥� she said, 鈥渆verybody was just like, 鈥楲et’s try anything. Anything is better than nothing,鈥� and in fact that’s not true.鈥� 

FEV Tutor, a chat-based, virtual tutoring firm with contracts in districts from California to Florida alerted staff on Saturday that efforts to raise more money or find a buyer had failed. CEO Reed Overfelt cited 鈥渨orse-than-expected company performance鈥� in his message to employees.

Some districts promptly alerted families about the interruption in services. The Henrico County Public Schools in Virginia referred parents to other tutors, including teachers, 鈥渢o minimize the impact of FEV鈥檚 closure.鈥� The Ector County Independent School District in Texas asked its other provider, Air Tutors, if it could take on the 2,000 students FEV left behind. 

鈥淲e found this all out on Sunday,鈥� said Ector spokesman Michael Adkins. 鈥淲e鈥檒l have to work very quickly to change things over, but as of today, we are expecting we will be able to find a virtual tutor for all of our kids.鈥�

鈥楾oo fast, too quickly鈥�

While districts and other tutoring providers might be able to cobble solutions together, FEV鈥檚 demise is one of the more visible early signs of what school finance experts warned would happen when nearly $190 billion in pandemic relief funds ran out. Districts have less money to spend on vendor contracts, leaving companies that were in high demand a year ago having to rethink their futures. Those that expanded at a rapid clip, like FEV Tutor, could be particularly vulnerable. 

鈥淲e saw what you would expect with large government programs 鈥� a lot of folks rushing out with various models,鈥� said Adam Newman, founder and managing partner of Tyton Partners, a consulting firm. 鈥淎 lot of those organizations grew too fast, too quickly.鈥�

With district contracts in at least 30 states and an estimated value of over $40 million, FEV Tutor was an 鈥渆arly innovator in providing virtual tutoring services鈥� through an on-demand, chat-based platform, Newman said.  With customers including the , and school districts, the company gave tutors access to an AI coach and engaged in innovative contracts in which tutors earned higher rates when students showed greater improvement. 

They were 鈥渕assive players鈥� in the industry, and when districts started spending their  relief funds , FEV was 鈥渧ery well-positioned to win all these district [contracts],鈥� added John Failla, founder and CEO of Pearl, a company that helps districts manage tutoring programs. 鈥淭hey scaled up like crazy.鈥�

But while its closing was unexpected, the financial reality that caused it was not. 

A year ago, one expert noted that investments in ed tech had dropped back to pre-pandemic levels. Even in late 2022, 鈥渞ising inflation, interest rates, geopolitical crises and belt-tightening brought an end to the copious amounts of capital that defined the pandemic,鈥� Tony Wan, head of platform at Reach Capital. Districts were already 鈥減reparing the chopping block for tools and services鈥� that were nice to have but no longer necessary. 

Some districts also just prefer to manage their own tutoring programs. 

鈥淚f you look at the districts [that] have succeeded in scaling tutoring the most, all of those have owned a lot of the process internally,鈥� said Liz Cohen, policy director at FutureEd, a Georgetown University . She cited Baltimore City, Guilford County, North Carolina, and Nashville as examples. 鈥淒istricts are increasingly focused on the relational part of tutoring. It can be virtual or in person, but it’s someone who has a face and a name and that the kid knows.鈥� 

The surprise isn鈥檛 that FEV Tutor is a 鈥渃asualty鈥� of the fiscal cliff, she said. 鈥淏ut certainly, nobody expected them to shut down on a Saturday in the middle of the school year when they have active customers and employees.鈥�

FEV Tutor did not respond to an email requesting comment. A red banner at the top of its home page says the company 鈥渃eased operations鈥� on Jan. 25. 

The news clearly confused some parents. In response to an announcement on Facebook, some families in Harford County, Maryland, blamed the district and wondered if officials knew weeks ago that services would end so suddenly. Another wrote, 鈥淭here鈥檚 clearly a mismanagement of money somewhere.鈥� 

On the district鈥檚 , officials apologized for the disruption, saying they could not guarantee they would be able to 鈥渇ind or implement a comparable solution at this time.鈥� 

Marguerite Roza, the director of Georgetown University鈥檚 Edunomics Lab, said she hasn鈥檛 seen other pandemic-era vendors face such a dramatic end, but predicted 鈥渢here will be more in the coming months.鈥�

Return on investment

Software industry veterans Anirudh Baheti and Ryan Patenaude founded FEV Tutor in 2008, well before the pandemic. According to GovSpend, a data company, annual sales didn鈥檛 top $1 million until 2018. By 2021, as districts began spending relief funds, sales jumped to over $6.3 million. 

In 2022, Alpine Investors, a private equity firm, acquired the company, and Patenaude said in a press release that he was excited about the 鈥渘ext stage of FEV鈥檚 growth.鈥� Jim Tormey, an executive with Alpine, stepped in as CEO until Overfelt took over in 2023. 

FEV鈥檚 work in Ector and Duval County, Florida, was also part of an innovative arrangement known as outcomes-based contracting. The company didn鈥檛 just deliver tutoring; it promised better results for more money, and offered to take a pay cut if students didn鈥檛 make progress. 

Such deals piqued the tutoring world鈥檚 interest in recent years as policymakers increasingly called for evidence that relief funds weren鈥檛 going to waste. Cohen, who featured FEV鈥檚 work last year in a FutureEd , wrote in a commentary that the concept could help ensure districts 鈥済et the best return on their investment and help build a culture of performance in public education.鈥�

FEV Tutor further evolved last year when it announced a new AI-enhanced platform, Tutor CoPilot. The tool makes tutors more effective by giving them guiding questions to ask students. In a , the National Student Support Accelerator at Stanford University, which studies tutoring models, found that when less-experienced tutors used the AI support, student math scores increased an average of 9 percentage points. 

But that breakthrough apparently wasn鈥檛 enough to turn business around.

In his note to the company, Overfelt said he and the board of directors had 鈥渆xplored every possible avenue to secure FEV Tutor鈥檚 future,鈥� but that talks with additional investors had 鈥渞eached their end.鈥�

Since FEV was on a pay-as-you-go contract, Adkins, in Ector, said the district wasn鈥檛 worried about losing money.

But FEV employees are suddenly out of a job. A customer service manager who once taught in the Las Vegas-area Clark County schools posted on LinkedIn that she was . And Jen Mendelsohn, CEO of Braintrust Tutors, said she spent Monday interviewing former FEV employees.

Many, she said, 鈥渉ave long-term district relationships nationwide and are looking for ways to ensure academic continuity for their students.鈥� 

Focused on schools in Washington, D.C., the preliminary results show middle school students attended an additional three days and those in the elementary grades improved their attendance by two days when they received tutoring during regular school hours.  

But high-impact tutoring 鈥攄efined as at least 90 minutes a week with the same tutor, spread over multiple sessions 鈥� had the greatest impact on students who missed 30% or more of the prior school year. Their attendance improved by at least five days, according to the study from the National Student Support Accelerator, a Stanford University-based center that conducts tutoring research. 

Susanna Loeb, who leads the center, called the data 鈥渢he first evidence of a strong causal link between tutoring specifically and attendance.鈥� 

Hedy Chang, executive director of the nonprofit Attendance Works, said it makes sense that students come to school more often when they鈥檙e keeping up in class and getting good grades. 

鈥淧art of why kids don鈥檛 show up is because they don鈥檛 feel successful in school,鈥� she said. Forming a connection with a tutor over several weeks or months can also make students more motivated to attend, she added. 鈥淚 do think it’s an impact of high-dosage tutoring, not necessarily just tutoring.鈥�

The early findings, which will be expanded in a future paper, reinforce the benefits of offering high-impact tutoring during the school day. The extra instructional time helps schools address two of their biggest post-pandemic problems 鈥� learning loss and chronic absenteeism, the researchers said. The White House has urged districts to not only target remaining federal relief funds toward those areas, but explore ways to sustain those efforts when they dry up. 

Districts that continue tutoring programs will likely keep 鈥渟tudent achievement top of mind,鈥� Loeb said, 鈥渨ith greater engagement 鈥� including increased attendance 鈥� as another outcome they hope to see.鈥�

also demonstrated how to successfully integrate tutoring sessions into the school day. The state education agency, which has spent $35 million on the program, funds staff members in charge of rearranging the schedule to accommodate the sessions and track data on student participation.聽

鈥淭hey took that off the plate of the principal,鈥� Christina Grant, D.C.鈥檚 state superintendent, said at a January conference hosted by Accelerate, an organization that works to scale high-dosage tutoring. She added that working with researchers like those from Stanford can help districts communicate the impact of federal relief funds. Without those partnerships, she said, 鈥渨e would look back three years later and not be able to tell the authentic story around what happened to $35 million.鈥�

The district, which had a chronic absenteeism rate of last school year, began its tutoring program in 2021. Officials awarded grants to a variety of providers, including , which focuses on high school math and teacher preparation program.

Sousa Middle School, in southeast D.C., works with George Washington University鈥檚 , which pays college students interested in STEM or education to work as tutors.

鈥淢y challenge, when this program first began, was getting students to come and not look at it as a form of punishment,鈥� said Sharon Fitzgerald, Sousa鈥檚 tutoring manager. Now students who have 鈥済raduated鈥� out of the program ask why they can鈥檛 come back. 

Students responded well, she said, because it鈥檚 a 鈥渂reak away from seeing their regular teachers every day鈥� and because they look up to the college students. The tutors, she added, also have a clever way of giving students a taste of how much more they鈥檒l learn during their next meeting and if they attend class everyday.

鈥淚t was what the tutors left them with in the last session that encouraged them to come to school,鈥� Fitzgerald said.

The results are likely to spark more interest in how tutoring and attendance initiatives can work in tandem.

鈥淲e have not intentionally used tutors as a way to address attendance. I can imagine that it could help if part of their work focused on that,鈥� said A.J. Gutierrez, co-founder of Saga Education. 鈥淚 see potential.鈥�

Chang, with Attendance Works, said the results are 鈥渙n the right track,鈥� but don鈥檛 go far enough. During the , several states still had chronic absenteeism rates over 30%, including Alaska, New Mexico and Oregon.

Tutoring doesn鈥檛 address all of the barriers that keep students from attending school, like health conditions or bullying, she said. But tutors could refer students to school attendance teams when those concerns surface.

鈥淲hat more could we get,鈥� she asked 鈥渋f tutoring was tied to a bigger strategy, a more comprehensive approach?鈥� 鈥�

First graders in Florida鈥檚 Broward County schools who participated in the program, called , saw more substantial gains in reading fluency than those who didn鈥檛 receive the support, according to the study. They were also 9 percentage points less likely to be considered at risk on a district literacy test.

Chapter One, which combines one-on-one tutoring with computer-based activities, also costs a fraction of other programs 鈥� about $500 annually per student 鈥� compared with programs that . That aspect could make it easier for districts to continue providing students with that support once federal relief funds expire later this year. 

The program鈥檚 鈥渟hort burst鈥� model 鈥渓everages all the knowledge that we have about what works to help children learn to read,鈥� said Susanna Loeb, who leads the National Student Support Accelerator at Stanford University, a leading tutoring research center. 

Chapter One curriculum materials are based on solid reading research, Loeb said. The fact that students work with the same tutor all school year and that the format fits young children鈥檚 short attention spans are also strong features of the program, she added.

鈥淏y embedding a well-supported tutor in the classroom, they are giving students the personalized, relationship-driven instructional approach that really seems to work,鈥� she said. 

As districts continue to look for ways to boost reading scores and curb pandemic losses, the findings strengthen the case for incorporating tutoring into the regular school day. The model demonstrates that even brief contact with a trained tutor who focuses on specific phonics skills can help struggling readers reach grade-level goals. The findings, based on data from over 800 students in 13 Broward schools, build on promising results from the 2021-22 school year. About half the students, then in kindergarten, were randomly assigned to receive tutoring while the rest got business-as-usual instruction. 

In the 2022-23 school year, first graders who continued in the program were more likely than their peers to develop basic reading skills, such as accurately decoding short consonant-vowel-consonant words and those with a silent e on the end. The researchers will continue to follow the students through third grade. 

The program is considered a 鈥減ush-in鈥� model because the tutors, called early literacy interventionists, meet with students during the school day, generally at a table in the back of the classroom. Using a tablet computer, they lead students through short, scripted lessons where students need help 鈥� on specific letter sounds, blends or sight words, for example 鈥� and calculate the number of correct words read per minute. 

Children making adequate progress might only see their tutor a couple times a week, while those who are far behind receive daily sessions. Later in the day, students spend another 15-20 minutes practicing with the same Chapter One software. 

鈥淚t kind of runs itself,鈥� said Ingrid Rosales, a literacy coach at Orange Brook Elementary, a Title I school in Hollywood, Florida. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 really interfere with our instruction.鈥�

Convincing school districts

That鈥檚 one key to the success of Chapter One 鈥� now serving over 20,000 students in 21 districts across 14 states, said founder Seth Weinberger. Tutors run their sessions while the teacher is either leading the whole class in a lesson or as students work in small groups. Over the course of the day, a tutor might meet with at least 25 students across multiple classrooms.

鈥淢ore important than the affordability is how nondisruptive our program is,鈥� Weinberger said. 鈥淭hat made it much easier for us to convince school districts to allow us to do high-impact tutoring during the school day.鈥� 

Even effective high-dosage programs often run a full 30 minutes a few times a week, making them . And that when programs operate after school, participation lags due to a lack of transportation and scheduling conflicts.

鈥淥nce you move the sessions to after school, you really lose the consistency of it,鈥� Weinberger said. 

Weinberger founded the Chicago-based program 30 years ago and developed the software to give students practice on basic reading skills. But the pandemic fueled greater demand. The nonprofit, which also works with schools in Canada and the United Kingdom, had 100 employees two years ago and now has 500. 

The original version relied on teachers to blend the mini lessons into their instruction, an approach that wasn鈥檛 always successful. Shortly before the pandemic, Weinberger鈥檚 team substantially changed the model by having former teachers lead the sessions. 

鈥淚t was incredibly successful,鈥� he said. But they also found that it could take two years of 鈥渋ntensive work鈥� to help a student from a low-income family become a strong reader. 鈥淲e said, 鈥楾here’s no substitute for this, but we’re going to have to create our own corps of tutors.鈥欌��

鈥楾hat time adds up鈥�

Other successful tutoring providers have reached the same conclusion 鈥� that expecting teachers to also manage tutoring sessions is unrealistic.

鈥淚deally, this type of work shouldn鈥檛 fall on their backs,鈥� said A.J. Gutierrez, co-founder of Saga Education, which trains recent college graduates, retirees and career-changers to tutor middle and high school students in math. A 2021 study showed that the sessions, also offered during the school day, helped students score higher on tests, get better grades and pass classes at higher rates. 

In Broward, teachers were initially skeptical about having tutors in their classrooms. Tutors weren鈥檛 part of the school staff, and teachers were unsure how easily students would transition from group instruction to their individual sessions.

But it only takes a few weeks for students to pick up the routine. When their session is over, they go tap the next student to let them know it鈥檚 their turn, said Hensley Philogene, who tutors at three Broward schools. After graduating from Florida International University, he joined the program because he was impressed with its track record.

One English-learner鈥檚 progress especially stands out to him. Their sessions had a 鈥渞ocky start鈥� because the student didn鈥檛 know any English and Philogene didn鈥檛 know Spanish.

鈥淵ou think to yourself, 鈥楬ow will I be able to connect with this student?鈥欌�� he said. But by March, the boy was 鈥渁ble to not only read the words, but [read them] fluently.鈥� 鈥�

Teachers were also more supportive once they began to see the impact.

Forty-five percent of students who received the tutoring were considered at risk for reading problems, compared to 54% of those who did not receive the intervention. And even though higher-scoring students didn鈥檛 remain in the study sample through first grade, the Chapter One group still made stronger gains than those without the program.
鈥淭hose five minutes can be very meaningful,鈥� Rosales said. 鈥淪eeing the same person every day 鈥� over time, that time adds up.鈥�