Principal Investigator
Susanna Loeb – Stanford University, National Student Support Accelerator
Project Description
This study examined the roll-out of the District of Columbia’s Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) high-impact tutoring (HIT) initiative. The report focuses on SY 2022-23, during which OSSE expanded the HIT with the goal of rapidly expanding access to high-impact math and English Language Arts (ELA) tutoring for students in grades kindergarten through 12th grade, with a focus on schools with the greatest concentrations of students identified as at risk. This study explored implementation of the model and also examined associations between students’ receipt of HIT and target outcomes, including attendance and achievement. The researchers used fixed effects analyses to help address selection of students and schools into the tutoring model.
Research Questions
- What is the effect of high-impact tutoring on student attendance?
Key Findings
Findings revealed that the HIT initiative served 5,135 students from more than half of District of Columbia schools and 85 percent of eligible schools. This reach represents approximately six percent of students in District of Columbia schools overall, and eight percent of students classified as at risk. Students participating in the Initiative, on average, received 27 sessions of tutoring in a small group (one to four students with one tutor) with the youngest students typically receiving tutoring one-on-one or in the smallest groups. Follow-up analyses found that OSSE-funded HIT may have improved students’ attendance. On average, the likelihood of being absent decreased by 1.2 percentage points on days when students had a scheduled tutoring session. Based on study findings, a student scheduled to receive tutoring three times a week, the recommended minimum for effective catch-up tutoring, would attend a total of 1.3 more days of school, on average, over a 180-day school year.
Study Citation
Lee, M. G., Loeb, S., & Robinson, C. D. (2024). Effects of high-impact tutoring on student attendance: Evidence from the OSSE HIT initiative in the District of Columbia. EdWorkingPaper. Annenberg Institute at Brown University.
The Key Findings above were reproduced from the published report and do not necessarily reflect interpretation of Overdeck Family Foundation staff.
