Why Tutoring Isn’t Working Like it Used To
There used to be a rule of thumb in the tutoring industry that suggested for every weekly session of tutoring, one letter-grade improvement could be expected. If the student had two tutoring sessions per week, a two-grade improvement was the expectation. This is no longer the case.
As our education system continues to falter, tutoring has evolved from a supplemental service to a substitute service. What used to provide additional support is now asked to replace classes, with tutors teaching subjects from the ground up, with very little structure, resources, and time. Regardless of a tutor’s knowledge and experience, this is a difficult undertaking.
Further, fundamental changes in schools have put pressure on students, families, and outside-support educators to make up the difference. There are a few major areas of change: instruction frequency, tangible resources, level of transparency, and amount of communication.
Across Chicago’s North Shore, many schools have moved to block scheduling. This scheduling format means longer class time with less frequency per week. The primary argument behind the change is that going to class five times per week for one hour equates with attending class 2-3 times per week for 90 minutes. This is flawed thinking, as time isn’t created equally. Frequency—how often students have class— is a critical metric. For high school students, reinforcement and repetition, along with having some momentum between classes, is paramount. Higher class frequency allows less time to pass before students revisit material. This argument is also flawed as a student’s attention span does not last 90 minutes. Typically, a student can pay attention for about 45 minutes before a reduction in quality occurs. A 60-minute class is closer aligned to that natural timeframe than a 90-minute class.
Homework is an important tool for learning. When prudently applied, homework reinforces important material and provides more practice and touch points to students. Having homework assigned Monday through Friday provides more reinforcement than 2-3 homework assignments per week. Even if the total volume of the homework is the same, having higher frequency can make all the difference.
Lastly, the adolescent brain is like a sponge— it can learn quickly and easily but tends to forget just as easily. There is a significant difference between a 24-hour delay between classes and a 48-hour delay. The tutoring world regularly experiences this, such as when working with a student on consecutive days versus once per week. With higher frequency, a student’s recall and retention are significantly improved as are their emotional connection to the material and overall confidence.
Besides scheduling issues, students no longer have physical textbooks. A study involving 171,000 readers showed that comprehension was better overall when people read print rather than digital text. Dozens of studies have been conducted in recent years as society moves towards the digital medium. This isn’t necessarily negative. The digital format allows for easier access and storage of print material. Though the comprehension might not be at the same level as physical books, this is generally acceptable when it comes to recreational reading. However, for students trying to learn dense and relevant texts to prepare for college and life, increasing comprehension must be a priority. The tangibility of a book and the connection among the hand, eye, and brain aid learning. The ease of flipping back and forth, making annotations, and completing in-book assessments increases engagement. Even the physical weight of a book can reminds a student to study. All are gone.
Moreover, many schools now have policies in place where students, and their parents, are unable to receive tests back to see where their errors, learn from their mistakes, and make adjustments moving forward. This, along with fewer parent-teacher conferences than ever before, keep students and families in the dark. They are unable to plan academically throughout high school, playing more of a guessing game and relying on letter grades alone to accurately assess their student’s grasp of content and readiness for the following year.
These fundamental changes in the education system have created a generation of students that don’t know how to study, with so many being confused by what it even means. Tutoring can be a beneficial tool, yet the student must come to tutoring with a system in place. They must know how to study, have a deliberate schedule and time management in order, and must be engaged in their classes, so they can provide accurate and useful feedback to their tutor. A tutor’s job is to fill in the gaps, address the details, and help prepare for exams, not to teach classes in their entirety. This is not a reliable system.
At Chestnut State, we combat these flaws by coaching students to create their own system from which to operate. This, along with having detailed academic advising and highly engaging one-on-one teaching in place, keeps students ahead, allowing them to see what is to come and to prepare for it accordingly. In turn, students learn more effectively and perform at a higher level, which consequently leads to more balanced life and greater sense of achievement.
