Spotlight

UPchieve - Report on Impact of Online Tutoring on Math Achievement

Grantee: UPchieve

Study Type: RCTs (multiple), Quasi-Experiments (multiple), Pre-Post (multiple)

Principal Investigator: UPchieve and Mathematica

Project Description: This reports on a series of small randomized controlled encouragement design studies, quasi-experiments, and pre-post studies that assessed the impact of weekly email reminders and five dollar financial incentives on (i) student take-up of UPchieve, a free online tutoring platform for economically-disadvantaged students, and (ii) student math achievement. The study samples were comprised of 99-125 ninth- and tenth-grade students over a 14-week period in late 2021 and early 2022 who were offered access to UPchieve’s math tutoring platform, some of whom were randomly assigned to receive encouragement and financial incentives to participate and others who were not, as well as those who were existing or new users outside the context of the randomization process.

Key Findings: Researchers estimated that an increase in UPchieve usage from approximately 3.5 sessions to nine sessions over a 14-week period resulted in an average increase in Star Math assessment scores of approximately 0.23 standard deviations. These findings indicate there is a 91 percent probability that an increase in UPchieve tutoring had a positive impact on students’ math knowledge; however, due to the small sample (89 students), these findings must be interpreted with caution. Researchers also found that an increase in UPchieve tutoring had positive effects on students’ motivation, as well as confidence in and engagement with math.

Study Citation: UPchieve: Final Report. UPchieve and Mathematica Policy Research, 2022. Retrieved from https://upchieve.org/impact.

Full report here.

The Key Findings above were reproduced from the published report and do not necessarily reflect interpretation of Overdeck Family Foundation staff.

Research Repository

A collection of research funded by Overdeck Family Foundation.

Summaries of Research Grants

Student looks in telescope

Courtesy of BEAM

As a leading education funder, we are dedicated to advancing the belief that “evidence matters” through novel, methodologically sound, and actionable research that uncovers programs and models with the potential to positively improve outcomes for all children. We believe research is a key way to increase awareness of what’s effective and to impact evidence-based decision-making and practice across our main grantmaking areas: early childhood, hands-on STEM education, and K-9 programs that include supporting educators and student-centered learning environments.

Aligned with our core value of “learn better, together,” Overdeck Family Foundation is committed to promoting transparent research practices by lifting up timely findings of the research we fund. We update this page as research is concluded and published, ensuring transparency for the field and our grantees.

Research Areas

Early Language Development

Read More

Family Engagement

Read More

Joyful and Rigorous STEM

Read More

K-12 Instructional Materials

Read More

Maternal and Child Health

Read More

Out-of-School Programming

Read More

Pre-K Curriculum

Read More

Professional Learning

Read More

Social-Emotional Learning

Read More

Strategic Staffing

Read More

Tutoring

Read More

Other

Read More

Early Language Development

I-LABS - Dual-MEG Interbrain Synchronization During Turn-Taking Verbal Interactions Between Mothers and Children

I-LABS - Heart-To-Heart: Infant Heart Rate at 3 Months Is Linked To Infant-Directed Speech, Mother–Infant Interaction, and Later Language Outcomes

I-LABS - Infants’ Brain Responses to Social Interaction Predict Future Language Growth

I-LABS - Language Experience During Infancy Predicts White Matter Myelination at Age Two

I-LABS & LENA - Language Input in Late Infancy Scaffolds Emergent Literacy Skills and Predicts Reading-Related White Matter Development

I-LABS - Mother-Infant Social and Language Interactions at Three Months Are Associated With Infants’ Productive Language Development in the Third Year of Life

LENA - Measuring LENA Grow’s Impact on Kindergarten Readiness

LENA - The Impact of a Language-Based Intervention, a Two-Part Study

LENA - The Relationship Between Conversational Turns and Student Achievement

The Effect of Exposure to Reach Out and Read on Shared Reading Behaviors

Family Engagement

Bright by Text - Sparking Connections: Evaluations of Mobile Messaging on Response Caregiving

Engaging Families Leads to Student Academic Gains and Increased Attendance: How TalkingPoints Improved Outcomes in a Large Urban School District

Examining PowerMyLearning's Family Playlists' Impact on Student Social Emotional Learning and Science Mastery through Short-Cycle RCTs

Learning Heroes' Parents 2022 - Hidden in Plain Sight: A Way Forward for Equity-Centered Family Engagement

TalkingPoints - Effective Family-School Partnerships Lead to Improved Student Attendance: How the TalkingPoints Universal Family Engagement Platform Decreased Absence in Tulsa Public Schools

Joyful and Rigorous STEM

Camp Invention - Invention Education as a Context for Children's Identity Exploration

DiscoverE - Messages Matter

FIRST® Longitudinal Study: 2022 Survey Results (108-Month Follow-Up)

Museum Digital Engagement: Before, During, and Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic

WNET - Cyberchase’s Impact on Environmental and STEM Learning

K-12 Instructional Materials

EdReports - State of the Instructional Materials Market: Use of Aligned Materials in 2022

Effects of a Quill.org Intervention on Paragraph Revision

Effects of ST Math on Growth in Math Performance at the Grade-Level

Efficacy Analysis of Zearn Math in DC Public Schools

Efficacy Analysis of Zearn Math: Findings from implementation in Louisiana

Study of CommonLit 360 Shows Gains on Reading Achievement

TNTP - Unlocking Acceleration: How Below-Grade Level Work is Holding Students Back in Literacy

Zearn - Catching Up and Moving Forward: Accelerating Math Learning for Every Student

Maternal and Child Health

Centering Healthcare Institute - Group Multimodal Prenatal Care and Postpartum Outcomes

Effect of Family Connects' Universal Postpartum Nurse Home Visiting Program on Child Maltreatment and Emergency Medical Care at 5 Years of Age: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Effect of Nurse-Family Partnership's Intensive Nurse Home Visiting Program on Adverse Birth Outcomes in a Medicaid-Eligible Population: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Implementing CenteringParenting Model With an Urban Pediatric Population to Measure and Improve Clinical Outcomes and Parent Satisfaction

Out-of-School Programming

Afterschool Alliance - Access to Afterschool Programs Remains a Challenge for Many Families

Afterschool Alliance - Afterschool Rising to the Challenges Brought on by the Pandemic

NSLA - Summer Learning for All

RAND - Expanding Afterschool Opportunities: Connecting STEM Afterschool Providers and Schools

Pre-K Curriculum

Young Mathematicians in Worcester Evaluation

Professional Learning

Does Teacher Professional Development Improve Student Learning? Evidence from Leading Educators' Teacher Fellowship Model

PERTS - Learning Conditions Are an Actionable, Early Indicator of Math Learning

Teaching Lab Professional Learning Series: Supporting Teachers to Deliver High-Quality, Equity-Oriented, and Curriculum-Aligned Mathematics Instruction

The Impact and Implementation of Leading Educators' Chicago Collaborative Teacher Professional Development Program

Social-Emotional Learning

Impact of PowerMyLearning's Social Emotional Learning Program: 2021-2022 Mid-Year and School Year Analysis

Strategic Staffing

Next Education Workforce - Early Evidence of Improved Educator Outcomes in Next Education Workforce Models

Education First - Strategic School Staffing Solutions

Next Education Workforce - Team-Based Staffing Models Can Make Schools Work Better for Both Learners and Educators

Tutoring

Khan Academy - Teaching Teachers To Use Computer Assisted Learning Effectively: Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Evidence

Khan Academy - Use of MAP Accelerator Associated With Better-Than-Projected Gains in MAP Growth Scores

New Jersey Tutoring Corps School Year 2022-23 Efficacy Report

NSSA - Tutor CoPilot: A Human-AI Approach for Scaling Real-Time Expertise

NSSA - Effects of High-Impact Tutoring on Student Attendance: Evidence from the OSSE HIT Initiative in the District of Columbia

OnYourMark - The Effects of Virtual Tutoring on Young Readers

Saga Education - Not Too Late: Improving Academic Outcomes among Adolescents

UPchieve - Report on Impact of Online Tutoring on Math Achievement

Other

COVID-19 Relief Bolstered U.S. Child Care Programs in Crisis

EdTech Evidence Exchange - EdTech Context Inventory: Factor Analyses for Ten Instruments to Measure EdTech Implementation Context Features

Opportunity Insights - Diversifying Society’s Leaders? The Determinants and Causal Effects of Admission to Highly Selective Private Colleges

Opportunity Insights - Social Capital I: Measurement and Associations with Economic Mobility

The Canopy Project - Evaluating the Impact of Innovative Schools

University of Nebraska - Nebraska Spotlight: Key Findings That Highlight Connections Among Early Childhood Development, Families and Communities