Full Research Paper Written By: Christina Merchant, Jennifer Savage, Cara Catalano

How much does total tutoring time really matter? 

High-dosage tutoring is a leading strategy for addressing K-12 learning gaps, yet most program designs treat dosage (total tutoring minutes received) as an afterthought instead of an important variable to maximize. 

Three members from our Curriculum Team, Cara Catalano, Jennifer Savage, and Christina Merchant, analyzed the relationship between dosage and academic growth among 9,757 students subject-records across 128 schools. Growth was defined as movement of at least one level on a six-label proficiency scale, measured from program baseline to end of program.

Their analysis revealed a clear relationship: 

Growth rates rose from 34.3% among students receiving fewer than 500 minutes of tutoring to 40.2% at 500–1,000 minutes, 46.4% at 1,000–1,500 minutes, 52.0% at 1,500–2,000 minutes, and 55.8% at 2,000 minutes or more. 

Graph from study showing relationships between growth and dosage. 

This shows a clear correlation between academic growth increasing as total tutoring minutes increase. 

These findings are valuable for understanding factors contributing to an effective high-dosage tutoring program, and can be used to suggest how administrators and district leaders should treat tutoring dosage as a variable when designing and implementing high-dosage tutoring programs. 

Read the full research paper here.