As the school year begins, many of the world’s primary and secondary education systems face unprecedented challenges in meeting students’ academic needs. Financial strain and uncertainty from the pandemic coupled with the need for social distancing have undermined the role of traditional classrooms in student learning and increased the burden on parents and caregivers at home.

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Andre Nickow

Research Manager, Global Poverty Research Lab - Northwestern University

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Phillip Oreopoulos

Professor of Economics and Public Policy - The University of Toronto

POreopoulos

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Vincent Quan

Associate Director of Policy, J-PAL North America - Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Even before the pandemic, the United States struggled with a stratified, unequal education system in which millions of students were behind grade level. Today’s rapid shift toward internet-based learning has risked further exacerbating inequality across racial, class-based, and geographic lines, underscoring how many students continue to lack access to the basic technology that is foundational to remote education. The magnitude of these challenges has augmented the need to urgently identify and scale cost-effective solutions to help to ensure that students do not experience learning losses that could last a lifetime.

When it comes to interventions that can help students get back on track, tutoring—defined here as one-on-one or small-group instructional programs—readily comes to mind. As educators will attest, tutoring ranks among the most widespread, versatile, and potentially transformative instruments within today’s educational toolkit. Long before the advent of the contemporary education system, scholars had instructed students individually and in small groups, with more formal tutoring interventions experiencing a renaissance in the mid-1980s.

Original article: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2020/10/06/tutoring-a-time-tested-solution-to-an-unprecedented-pandemic/

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