Study Shows Favorable Outcomes For Students Using Tutor.com
Tutor.com, one of the world's largest and most innovative online tutoring organizations, announced that it satisfies Level II requirements (Moderate Evidence) of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for its on-demand tutoring services.
The findings come from an effectiveness study independently designed and conducted by LearnPlatform by Instructure, a third-party EdTech research company. The study results show four statistically significant favorable outcomes for El Monte Union High School District students who used Tutor.com as compared to demographically similar non-users. Highlights include:
- Students who used Tutor.com had higher GPAs. Students who used Tutor.com had higher spring-semester GPAs as compared to non-users (3.02 vs. 2.87), and the difference was statistically significant.
- Students who used Tutor.com had fewer Ds and Fs. Students who used Tutor.com had fewer spring-semester D and F grades as compared to non-users (0.72 vs. 0.91 on average per student), and the difference was statistically significant.
- Students who completed more Tutor.com sessions had fewer absences. Students who completed more than 20 sessions had fewer absences than students who completed 3–20 sessions, and fewer still than students who completed 1–2 sessions (5.14 absences for high Tutor.com usage vs. 6.42 for medium usage and 8.62 for low usage), and these differences were statistically significant.
- Students who engaged in more total minutes of Tutor.com tutoring had fewer absences. Students who completed more than 300 minutes of Tutor.com tutoring had fewer absences as compared to students who completed between 1 and 60 minutes of tutoring (5.42 absences vs. 8.30), and the difference was statistically significant.
The study showed positive outcomes from on-demand tutoring, a service Tutor.com has delivered for more than two decades. Together with High-Dosage Tutoring, an evidence-based intervention that Tutor.com and affiliate company The Princeton Review® launched earlier this year, on-demand tutoring can be utilized as an effective tool to enhance a district's Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS).
"This study confirms what we and the millions of students we serve have long known," said Sandi White, Chief Institutional Officer at Tutor.com and The Princeton Review. "Students consistently tell us that Tutor.com is helping them improve their grades and confidence. This independent effectiveness study measurably attests to many of the student success stories we see every day."
The study, which examined outcomes during the 2022–2023 school year, included a matched analysis sample of 746 students (373 treatment, 373 comparison) in grades 9–12 from El Monte Union High School District. Researchers used both administrative and state summative assessment data to examine the impact of Tutor.com on student outcomes. (Additional details can be found in the study.) Given multiple positive outcome findings, the study provides results to satisfy ESSA evidence requirements for Level II. LearnPlatform by Instructure had previously completed a Tutor.com logic model that satisfies ESSA IV standards.
"Every El Monte educator is dedicated to empowering our students to be resilient, college- and career-ready, lifelong learners and contributing members of our global society," said Dr. Edward Zuniga, Superintendent, El Monte Union High School District. "We proactively implement programs to help students realize their full potential, and we are delighted to see the positive, measurable impact that online tutoring has had on their success."
Other case studies have shown positive outcomes with Tutor.com use. "As part of our commitment to student success, we examine impact data and continually innovate our services to support success for learners, schools, and districts," said White. The company, which has delivered more than 25 million sessions, plans to release additional MTSS tools in the new year.
About Tutor.com
Since its incorporation in 2000, Tutor.com has delivered more than 25 million online tutoring and homework help sessions to students. The company's more than 3000 vetted and qualified tutors provide learning assistance that is available 24/7 in a wide variety of subjects. The company's mission is to instill hope, advance equity, and catalyze achievement in schools and communities. Tutor.com powers tutoring and homework help programs for the U.S. Department of Defense, colleges and universities, K-12 school districts, state and local libraries, and companies offering employee benefit programs. Headquartered in New York City, Tutor.com is an affiliate of The Princeton Review, an education services company not affiliated with Princeton University. Follow Tutor.com on X (formerly Twitter) @tutordotcom, Facebook @TutorDotCom, and LinkedIn @Tutor.com.
For more information, contact Suzanne Podhurst, PhD, VP, Institutional Marketing and Corporate Communications, Tutor.com and The Princeton Review.