Tutoring implementation: A review

By Kaya Feng, Johns Hopkins University

The Covid-19 pandemic interrupted student learning to various extents in the past two years. Many studies demonstrate that tutoring programs where students receive small-group or one-to-one academic support are effective in improving academic achievement. However, there are few reviews that summarize the evidence on these programs’ implementation. A group of researchers at Brown University conducted a systematic review of 40 studies to synthesize how tutoring is implemented and experienced.

This review provides three findings: 1) There are five conceptualizations of tutoring in the reviewed studies, which are not mutually exclusive: a. Tutoring is aimed at facilitating the development of academic skills and cultivation of positive attitudes toward learning; b. Tutoring is innovative in that it redistributes power and instructional roles; c. Tutoring scaffolds pre-service teachers getting prepared for classroom instruction; d. Tutoring serves as a marketplace where tutors compete to provide accessible tutoring resources of high quality; e. Tutoring services can better cater to students’ and parents’ demands through community partnerships. 2) Tutoring implementation and experiences can be related to several factors: a. How available quality tutoring providers are; b. How accessible accurate and actionable data on the effectiveness of tutoring programs is; c. How interested students and families are in tutoring; d. How capable of implementing tutoring administrators are; e. How high the level of school principals’ buy-in of tutoring programs is; f. How students are selected for tutoring programs and what the patterns of student take-up are; g. How flexible tutoring programs’ schedules and settings are; h. How well-established student-tutor relationships are. 3) Tutoring can influence students and tutors in various ways: a. Tutoring’s effects on students vary with the design and implementation of tutoring programs; b. Some tutors got more prepared and passionate in their careers while some others did not. This review provides valuable information on the elements influencing tutoring implementation and indicates directions for further research.

• Implementation
• Research review
• Tutoring