Program Model Variation

Program models varied in their designs in several dimensions:

• Delivery format: Two school systems offered virtual tutoring using three distinct tutoring program types, while the rest used in-person tutors.
• Amount of tutoring: While all programs in the PLI study were intended to offer at least 90 minutes of tutoring per week per student, school systems took different approaches to the length and number of sessions and the number of weeks the programs were offered. The smallest amount of tutoring a program was designed to offer was 14 hours a year; the highest was 68 hours over the course of the year.
• Grade focus: The majority of PLI programs focused on middle school students’ math skills, although some focused on elementary students (in math and ELA) and high school students (in math).
• Staffing approach: School systems took different approaches to tutoring staffing. Some hired tutors as school-based employees who were trained as part of the school team, others procured a vendor to hire and manage tutors, and some used a combination of the two.
• Instructional setting: Some school systems offered tutoring as a part of classroom instruction (push-in) while others offered tutoring in separate learning environments (pull-out).
• Instructional materials: School systems took different approaches to the selection of instructional materials for tutoring. Some selected a vendor that used a specific curriculum, whereas others trained tutors to use teacher-made or school-based materials.

Thus, PLI can offer insights into many different program models of “tutoring.” Differences between programs in these features may have implications for implementation quality and impacts on student learning.

Implementation Insights

Designs do not always translate into practice as intended. The program infographics therefore describe both the programs as the school systems designed them, and the programs as they were actually implemented in schools in the 2023–24 school year. Common implementation discrepancies of the programs were that schools tended to offer tutoring over fewer weeks than intended, students missed many sessions and tutoring tended to occur during different times in the school day than originally proposed.

Cost Framework: Direct and Reallocated Costs

The comprehensive cost estimates shown in the infographics include both new costs, such as vendor fees, and reallocated costs, such as reallocated staff time.