Phyllis Hillwig

As schools open for the 2022-2023 school year, over 2,000 teaching vacancies remain in the state of Maryland alone. One of the disciplines that has seen the highest number of vacancies is mathematics. Qualified middle school and high school math teachers are in particular demand amidst this crisis. Finding and keeping these qualified professionals is one of the biggest challenges in education post pandemic.

Before COVID, recruiting high-quality math teachers in high-poverty city school was a common challenge. However, with an unprecedented number of teachers leaving the profession, in combination with a declining number of educators entering the teaching profession, the most vulnerable students, once again, are left behind.

We have seen this first hand, at every turn. Schools are asking whether we know any available math teachers. We have seen schools with limited staff place non-qualified subs in positions of middle school and high school math teachers because they simply don’t have any other options to fill these positions. The reliance upon tutoring platforms and online learning tools can only go so far without human intervention. However, some school leaders are innovating. One we’ve been involved with and are excited about has relied upon training their community. Here’s what they did:

The school started by reaching out to their community – current parents, volunteers, aides, subs, and anyone who had a relationship with the school community, and they asked  – “Do you have an interest in learning and tutoring math in the schools?” Those who were interested completed a pre-test which told us how much math they actually knew. We then trained them on pedagogical best practices in math education – those that we use in tutoring. The candidates spent four days strengthening their content knowledge, pedagogy, and student engagement strategies. They also completed homework to ensure they did well on their post-test.

These para-educators could never replace a qualified teacher. However, they can help students in small groups and can provide different strategies to engage them. Throughout the school year, we will be checking in regularly to ensure they are effectively helping students through quantifiable metrics and school leadership confirmation.

What is exciting about this possibility is that the school is arming its own people with math learning and building its own potential pipeline of educators both in and outside of school. Those who do not end up in schools now have a much better appreciation for math and can help their own children and those in the community. Those we recommend have a strong potential to become future math teachers.

Is this the best way to bring math support to the school? We won’t know until we try. At the minimum, we are involving the community in teaching their own children while becoming part of a solution that may positively impact more than just the students. We know we have to be creative as we navigate these challenges and work toward the future of education post pandemic.

Over two years ago, COVID arrived, and since then, the world has been grappling with how to address the learning loss in our children. A 2021 McKinsey report found that in the 2020-2021 school year, children were at least five months behind in math and four months behind in reading.

To mitigate the problem, the US Department of Education announced that every state education agency (SEA) received approval of their American Rescue Plan (ARP) resulting in $122 billion of subsidized funds to all 50 states of (ARP) Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) on January 18, 2022. As a result, schools and districts have looked to hire an unprecedented number of tutors to support their existing teams. According to Global Newswire, the tutoring market in the US is projected to hit $8.37 billion by 2025. In sum, families and schools are hiring millions of tutors, more than ever before, to minimize learning loss.

If you are one of them, a key question that isn’t always addressed is “How do I know the tutor hired will be effective?” For many, hiring a tutor boils down to availability, price, and word of mouth. Unfortunately, a significant number of dollars are spent before you know whether the tutor has been effective and whether or not the investment was worth it.

Here are five must haves to look for when hiring an effective tutor for your child. Great tutors are:

1. Relatable
Don’t just hire based on the years of experience or the letters behind his or her name. Just because a tutor has content knowledge, doesn’t mean they will be able to relate to the child. How comfortable the tutor makes the child, presenting information in a way that is relatable is important to the learning process.

Things to look for: Your child wants to go to tutoring or does not hesitate when asked. If your child does not want to be there, learning is not maximized no matter how much knowledge the tutor has.

2. Results-driven
Good tutors will want to confirm their work is making a difference and will ask about grades, test scores, confidence improvements, and feedback from teachers, students, and parents . Data informs decision-making, and a good result-driven tutor can determine where additional work is needed and determine what is most effective for their student.

Things to look for: If your tutor is not proactively asking about results and checking-in periodically between sessions, you should ask yourself whether the investment has paid off. While there are many variables that go into a child’s improvement, an active conversation about goals, metrics, and results has to be among them with everyone involved in the journey.

3. Socratic (or question-led tutoring)
Tutors encourage the child to do the talking, thinking, and cognitive lifting. They give children time to process their thoughts and come up with their own answers. The person doing the work is doing the learning.

Things to look for: If your tutor is talking most of the time, showing how to do the work, explaining the work and your child is simply saying “yes or no” and mimicking steps told to them, your child is not learning, they are placating and following steps. Great tutors help students think for themselves, not follow steps without understanding the purpose.

4. Fun
When you have fun, you want to be there. Dopamine is released, and the brain is receptive to new concepts. Learning when it is fun is a no brainer. To learn your basic facts, would you rather do a worksheet or play a basketball race game?

Things to look for: Your tutor should find creative and have interesting ways to make learning fun for your child. Why not shoot baskets, run around, draw pictures, and play games as part of the learning?

5. Challenging
Our bodies and brains grow when we are challenged. Challenges help build a growth mindset and give confidence to your child when completed successfully. It also teaches perseverance and grit. Even when children are behind, they can still be challenged to critically think and problem-solve, often practicing the necessary skills in the meantime to find their solutions.

Things to look for: If tutors are only sticking to questions your child knows, or doesn’t think they can handle challenges, the tutors are short-changing your child and not working them to their fullest potential. Every child is capable of completing challenges and feeling great about themselves when they succeed.

Sources and Recommended Related Resources

Learning Loss Due to Covid
Angrist, N., de Barros, A., Bhula, R, Chakera, S., Cummiskey, C., DeStefano, J., Floretta, J., Kaffenberger, M., Piper, B., Stern, J. (2021) Building back better to avert a learning catastrophe: Estimating learning loss from COVID-19 school shutdowns in Africa and facilitating short-term and long-term learning recovery. International Journal of Educational Development, 84. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2021.102397

Engzell, P., Frey, A., Verhagen, M.D. (2021). Learning loss due to school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. PNAS, 118(17):e2022376118. http://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2022376118

Hevia, F.J., Vergara-Lope, S., Velásquez-Durán, A., Calderón, D. (2022) Estimation of the
fundamental learning loss and learning poverty related to COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico. International Journal of Educational Development, 88. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2021.102515

Storey, N., Slavin, R.E. (2020) The US Educational Response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Best Evid Chin Edu, 5,(2):617-633. https://www.bonoi.org/index.php/bece/article/download/94/73

Best Practices for Tutoring Strategies
Wood, W.B., Tanner, K.D. (2012) The Role of the Lecturer as Tutor: Doing What Effective Tutors Do in a Large Lecture Class. CBE-Life Sciences Education, (11):3-9.
http://doi.org/10/1187/cbe.11-12-0110

High-Dosage Tutoring
de Ree, J., Maggioni, M.A., Paulle, B., Rossignoli, D., Ruijs, N., Walentek, D. (2021) Closing the income-achievement gap? Experimental evidence from high-dosage tutoring in Dutch primary education. http://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/qepc2/download

de Ree, J., Maggioni, M.A., Paulle, B., Rossignoli, D., Walentek, D. (2021) High dosage tutoring in pre-vocational secondary education: Experimental evidence from Amsterdam. https://osf.io/r56um/download

Tutor Evaluation
Mostow, J., Aist, G. (2001) Evaluating tutors that listen: An overview of Project LISTEN. The MIT Press (169-234). https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2001-10194-006

Ritter, S., Anderson, J.R., Koedinger, K.R., Corbett, A. (2007) Cognitive Tutor: Applied research in mathematics education. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 14(2), 249-255. http://doi.org/10.3758/BF03194060