More than half of public schools—56%—are using high-dosage tutoring as a key piece of their strategy for students’ learning recovery, according to national data. High-dosage tutoring—either one-on-one or small group instruction that’s offered at least three times a week, has strong research backing. States, philanthropies, and the Biden administration are all backing tutoring initiatives. But staffing shortages, lackluster online options, and ensuring that tutoring reaches the students who need it most have been challenges for many school districts who want to deploy the strategy.
In this event, we will highlight and discuss the evidence base for tutoring, best practices for doing it effectively, and different ways to provide it at scale in school communities.
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Agenda
2:00pm ET
Welcome and Introduction
We’ll review key takeaways from recent reporting on tutoring and student achievement.
2:20pm ET
Industry Perspective: Beyond ESSER: How and Why Districts Should Implement High-Impact Tutoring
Content provided by Saga Education
School districts can deliver high-impact, in-school tutoring at scale to students who need it most. Get insights on the long-term transformative potential of high-impact tutoring and efforts to help cohorts of districts directly implement their own high-impact tutoring programs. Chiefs for Change and Saga have partnered to launch a community of practice where district leaders will share key learnings with one another and receive technical assistance and resources for effective implementation.
School districts can deliver high-impact, in-school tutoring at scale to students who need it most. Get insights on the long-term transformative potential of high-impact tutoring and efforts to help cohorts of districts directly implement their own high-impact tutoring programs. Chiefs for Change and Saga have partnered to launch a community of practice where district leaders will share key learnings with one another and receive technical assistance and resources for effective implementation.
Robert Runcie
Interim CEO, Chiefs for Change
| Robert Runcie has blended his two decades of private sector technology, management consulting, and entrepreneurship experience with 18 years of leadership in urban public schools to deliver innovation, organizational and systems change, and improved student outcomes. In his current role with Chiefs for Change, he oversees staff and day-to-day operations and provides coaching and thought partnership to members of the network and participants in the Future Chiefs leadership development program. As the former superintendent of Broward County Public Schools, Runcie led the nation’s sixth largest district, with more than 260,000 students and 35,000 employees, and oversaw an annual budget of $4 billion. |
Alan Safran
CEO,
SAGA Education
Alan Safran is the Co-Founder, CEO, and Chair of the Board of Saga. He has had a 30-year career in public education at the state and local levels. He served nine years at the Massachusetts Department of Education, including a period as the state’s Deputy Commissioner of Education for Policy and Administration.
He led the Match Charter Public School network in Boston for 9 years, where he was the co-designer of the school’s high dosage tutoring program, the first such model in the country (and helped coin the phrase “high dosage tutoring.”). He and AJ Gutierrez then incubated the dissemination of high-dosage tutoring out of the Match School base to Lawrence, MA, Stamford, CT, and Chicago, IL, and then, in 2014, founded the edtech nonprofit Saga. Alan has a law degree from George Washington University a bachelor’s degree from Princeton, and he and his wife split their time between Boston, MA, and Washington, DC. They have three grown children in DC, NY, and LA, and a mid-size, middle-aged black labrador, Colbie.
He led the Match Charter Public School network in Boston for 9 years, where he was the co-designer of the school’s high dosage tutoring program, the first such model in the country (and helped coin the phrase “high dosage tutoring.”). He and AJ Gutierrez then incubated the dissemination of high-dosage tutoring out of the Match School base to Lawrence, MA, Stamford, CT, and Chicago, IL, and then, in 2014, founded the edtech nonprofit Saga. Alan has a law degree from George Washington University a bachelor’s degree from Princeton, and he and his wife split their time between Boston, MA, and Washington, DC. They have three grown children in DC, NY, and LA, and a mid-size, middle-aged black labrador, Colbie.
2:30pm ET
Panel Discussion: Tutoring Models That Work and the Evidence Behind Them
Schools are feeling the urgency to get large numbers of students back on solid academic footing after setbacks of the last couple of years. Of all the strategies to invest in, perhaps none is more convincingly effective than high-dosage tutoring. In this discussion, experts will explain the evidence for why tutoring can be so impactful, as well as highlight the essential elements of good tutoring and model programs at work in states and districts that are moving the needle on raising student achievement.
Susanna Loeb
Professor, Director of the Education Policy Initiative,
Graduate School of Education at Stanford University
Susanna Loeb is a Professor at the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University and executive director of the National Student Support Accelerator, which aims to expand access to relationship-based, high-impact tutoring in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Susanna was Director of the Annenberg Institute at Brown University, where she was also Professor of Education and of International and Public Affairs. Susanna’s research focuses broadly on education policy and its role in improving educational opportunities for students. Her work has addressed issues of educator career choices and professional development, of school finance and governance, and of early childhood systems. Before moving to Brown, Susanna was the Barnett Family Professor of Education at Stanford. She was the founding director of the Center for Education Policy at Stanford and co-director of Policy Analysis for California Education. Susanna led the research for both Getting Down to Facts projects for California schools. She is also an affiliate at NBER and JPAL and a member of the National Academy of Education and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Scott Muri
Superintendent,
Ector County Independent School District (Odessa, Texas)
Muri has been superintendent of the Ector County Independent School District in Odessa, Texas, since 2019. He has previously served as superintendent in the Spring Branch Independent School District in Houston and deputy superintendent for academics in Georgia’s Fulton County Schools. He’s been an elementary and middle school teacher, an instructional technology coach, and a principal.
3:15pm ET
Industry Perspective: Customizing Tutoring Programs to Maximize Impact
Content provided by Littera Education
High-impact tutoring works, but a “one-size fits all” approach fails to help the students who need it most. To be successful, districts need innovative, sustainable approaches that address tutor sources, student selection, curriculum, scheduling, and ongoing implementation challenges. Learn how districts, community non-profits, and universities design and execute high-impact tutoring programs that drive outcomes for K-12 students and maximize local district and community resources.
High-impact tutoring works, but a “one-size fits all” approach fails to help the students who need it most. To be successful, districts need innovative, sustainable approaches that address tutor sources, student selection, curriculum, scheduling, and ongoing implementation challenges. Learn how districts, community non-profits, and universities design and execute high-impact tutoring programs that drive outcomes for K-12 students and maximize local district and community resources.
John-Paul Smith
Executive Director,
North Carolina Education Corps
Justin Serrano
Founder & CEO,
Littera Education
3:25pm ET
Interview: How One School District Is Maximizing Its Tutoring Strategy
In a Q&A, a district leader breaks down the details of one school district’s approach to tutoring, how it’s working so far, and the lessons learned.
Andrew G. Houlihan
Superintendent,
Union County, N.C.
Andrew Houlihan is the superintendent of Union County school district in North Carolina. Before joining Union County, he served in a variety of leadership roles in Houston Independent school district. He is a 2022 Education Week Leader to Learn From.
3:55pm ET
Industry Perspective: How to Make Online Tutoring Work For Your District
Content provided by Varsity Tutors
An unprecedented $123 billion influx of dollars from the federal government is being invested in tutoring following a growing body of research that suggests tutoring can play a critical role in helping students catch up. So how can district leaders best mobilize the tutoring infrastructure they’ve invested in over the last 20 months? Join this session to hear four considerations as school leaders examine the best strategies for addressing lost instructional time using technology as a supporting instructional tool, making it much more tenable to individualize instruction for every child.
An unprecedented $123 billion influx of dollars from the federal government is being invested in tutoring following a growing body of research that suggests tutoring can play a critical role in helping students catch up. So how can district leaders best mobilize the tutoring infrastructure they’ve invested in over the last 20 months? Join this session to hear four considerations as school leaders examine the best strategies for addressing lost instructional time using technology as a supporting instructional tool, making it much more tenable to individualize instruction for every child.
Anthony Salcito
Chief Institution Business Officer,
Varsity Tutors
Anthony Salcito is a recognized leader in driving education transformation and has worked globally to support new approaches to delivering student impact and supporting learners. In his role as chief institution business officer at Varsity Tutors, Anthony works to support institutions and educators with solutions for on-demand and high-dosage tutoring, homework help, test prep, and enrichment all with the goal of driving student outcomes and helping transform education. Prior to joining Varsity Tutors, Anthony served as vice president of Worldwide Education for Microsoft, leading the execution of the company’s vision for education, and pioneering many core programs and education offerings.
4:05pm ET
Interactive Session: Ideas to Start, Scale, and Sustain Effective Tutoring
Staffing shortages, lack of student and family uptake, and a dizzying array of options for how to design a tutoring program are all big challenges for schools and districts. We’ll brainstorm ideas for getting over those hurdles.
Stephen Sawchuk is an assistant managing editor for Education Week, leading coverage of teaching, learning, and curriculum.
4:20pm ET
Closing Thoughts
