Perspectives — High Dosage Tutoring + In-home Learning = Accelerated Learning
By Jim Wambach
November 18, 2022
Empowering Parents to Play an Essential Role in Their Child’s Accelerated Learning
Lost learning time due to COVID impacted children who were already behind—disproportionately young children of color—more than their peers. As a result, they fell further behind in reading and math.
The Nation’s Report Card revealed a sobering fact about the impact of the COVID pandemic. According to the recent National Assessment of Educational Progress report, not only have nine-year-olds between 2020 and 2022 reported significant declines in reading and math. What is worse, children who were already behind—disproportionately young children of color—fell further behind their peers.
As a community, it is urgent that we provide the environment and tools that result in accelerated learning for these children. When we do, they will more quickly recover from COVID-related learning loss.
In the Oakland schools we serve, many children are three or more grade levels behind, feeling frustrated and losing confidence in their ability to learn.
Will you complete HER Circle of Care?
Through one-on-one reading and math tutoring, and family support, you will nurture an eager child in a circle of care so they may succeed in school.
Will you complete HER Circle of Care?
Through one-on-one reading and math tutoring, and family support, you will nurture an eager child in a circle of care so they may succeed in school.
As a community, it is urgent that we provide the environment and tools that result in accelerated learning for these children. When we do, they will more quickly recover from COVID-related learning loss.
If we don’t, many more children living in the lowest-income areas of Oakland are in danger of failing and dropping out of school as they fall further behind in middle school and high school in the coming years.
Free, high-quality tutoring, teacher curriculum adaptation, and parents—more so than ever—must all be part of the solution during this extraordinary time.
Creating the Path to High Dosage Tutoring
High dosage tutoring is a proven way to provide accelerated learning and a pathway to overcoming significant learning gaps.
Current data shows the tremendous impact of high dosage tutoring. Math and reading tutoring programs must focus on foundational skill building and implement an evidenced-based curriculum. When they do, children can achieve up to two and a half years of additional math and reading learning in one year. Schools that implement high-quality tutoring can close the achievement gap between high- and low-income students by 50 percent and reduce math course failure by 63 percent! *
However, most parents aren’t likely to think their child needs this type of support. In May of 2022, a staggering 92 percent of parents—regardless of race, income, or education level—believed their child was performing at or above grade level in reading and math. There is a clear disconnect between the data and parental perceptions.
The disconnect is primarily due to ineffective communication. When parents are given information that shows their child is performing below grade level, the percentage of parents who said they would take advantage of tutoring to support their child doubled!
Family Engagement is the Missing Piece to Accelerated Learning
It’s long overdue that we think about the role families play in student success. We need to partner with families so they may further develop the skills, confidence, and tools needed to accelerate their child’s learning.
In addition to tutoring, improving family in-home learning support is a critical component to helping the kids catch up with their math and reading skills. For children growing up in low-income areas, their parents and caregivers often struggle more than others to provide the right level of in-home learning support. All of these parents care deeply. Unfortunately, many don’t have the confidence, training, or access to quality in-home learning materials necessary to reinforce and coach what their children are learning in school.
We must provide these parents and caregivers with critical information about how far behind their child is in reading and math. They need to know what their child is being taught in school. And they need access to in-home learning tools and coaching in order to reinforce that teaching and accelerate their child’s learning.
Engaged family members will substantially improve their children’s likelihood of catching up to grade level and build the all-important self-confidence needed to become an active, engaged learner—with a much more fair chance of realizing long-term success in school and life.
Informed, engaged family members with the right tools will substantially improve their children’s likelihood to catch up to grade level and build the all-important self-confidence needed to become an active, engaged learner—with a much more fair chance of realizing long-term success in school and life.
It’s long overdue to not just think about the role families play in student success when we are in absolute crisis mode, but in ongoing, sustaining, culturally affirming ways. It’s time to take the blinders off and empower parents to play an essential role in their child’s education.
* The Hill – BIBB HUBBARD, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR – 09/13/22
Bibb Hubbard founded Learning Heroes to help parents most effectively advocate on behalf of their children’s educational success.
If you are interested in tutoring an eager child, learn more about opportunities with Children Rising.
I want to learn more about online reading or math clinics to see if tutoring is right for me!
