114 | How Virtual and Group Tutoring Could Address Learning Loss

The COVID-19 pandemic is no longer a public health emergency, but its harmful effects on the U.S. education system still linger. Nationwide standardized test scores show that average student achievement in core subjects, such as math and reading, remains below pre-pandemic levels. Over the past four years, a growing number of schools have used temporary federal pandemic relief funds to implement high-dosage tutoring, an evidence-based strategy shown to increase student learning. Education agencies have less than a year to use their remaining funds, underscoring the need for other effective tutoring approaches that can serve more students at a lower cost. The latest episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast explores promising evidence from evaluations Mathematica conducted for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation of eight tutoring programs that piloted a variety of tutoring approaches, such as virtual and group tutoring. These programs enrolled diverse groups of students in grades 4 through 10 during the 2021–2022 school year. Our guests for this episode are Brandi Garza of the Corpus Christi Independent School District, Hasan Ali of Air Tutors, and Gregory Chojnacki of Mathematica. A full transcript of the episode is available at mathematica.org/blogs/how-virtual-and-group-tutoring-could-address-learning-loss