Press Releases
March 2024
Mayor Bowser Announces New Investments in High-Impact Tutoring and Reimagining High School
High-Impact Tutoring Increases Attendance for DC Students
February 2023
Mayor Bowser Announces Expansion of High-Impact Tutoring Programming to Serve an Additional 3,600 DC Students
Media Mentions
Tutoring is getting kids excited about school. Educators want to make it permanent.
Aug. 27, 2024
Jackie Valley//The Christian Science Monitor
When many Washington, D.C., schools launched intensive tutoring programs after the COVID-19 closures, staff observed a pleasant surprise: More kids started showing up each day. The higher attendance rates – on top of improved math and reading skills – proved a welcome side effect of an initiative aimed at bridging students’ learning gaps.
D.C. Tutoring Program Drives Academic Gains for Black and Low-Income Students
August 14, 2024
Stacy M. Brown//The Washington Informer
New research from Stanford University has brought a ray of hope for Washington, D.C.’s students, especially Black children and those from low-income families. The research revealed that the city’s substantial investment in a tutoring initiative has borne fruit in its first year, significantly boosting academic performance and narrowing the persistent gaps in reading and math that have disproportionately affected these groups.
D.C. kids in regular tutoring do better in school, attend more, report says
August 13, 2024
Lauren Lumpkin//The Washington Post
D.C. students who got frequent, small group tutoring improved their reading and math scores after the return to in-person classes, attended more classes and had a stronger sense of belonging at school, according to new research into the city’s multimillion-dollar tutoring program. “Those students who were receiving high-impact tutoring are shrinking the gap with their peers,” Nancy Waymack, director of research partnerships and policy at Stanford’s National Student Support Accelerator, said about the D.C. program.
Schools face a math problem: Money is running out and kids are still behind
July 1, 2024
Lauren Lumpkin//The Washington Post
With a full academic recovery still out of reach — and the billions in pandemic relief that fueled attempts to catch kids up running out — educators worry they must turn things around fast, or else a big cohort of children will be ill-prepared for higher-level math courses, college and ultimately for the kinds of sought-after jobs in technology and science that could give them more financial stability and propel the economy. OSSE-funded tutoring at Perry Street Prep is highlighted.
Is Tutoring at Risk? States Stretch to Keep Funding in Place
April 8, 2024
Olina Baneri//Education Week
When Muriel Bowser, the mayor of the District of Columbia, announced in early March that her administration had carved out $4.8 million for “high impact tutoring” in its 2024-25 budget, she was met with thunderous applause. As the federal stimulus package—ESSER—winds down, states are racing against the clock to find other sustainable funding sources to keep tutoring alive in their schools.
How In-School Tutoring Benefits Both Attendance and Math Scores
March 28, 2024
Olina Banerji//EducationWeek
Tutoring has become a popular prescription for academic recovery, thanks to lots of evidence showing that sustained tutoring blocks at least three times a week can boost students’ improvement trajectories. Now, two new research studies conclude that one of the critical pieces is making sure it happens during school hours—not outside of them. What’s more, students themselves seem to want to come to school when they know they’re going to receive personalized attention.
Intensive tutoring is great for academics. Now there’s evidence it can boost attendance.
March 22, 2024
Kalyn Besha//Chalkbeat
Lots of research has shown that intensive tutoring is one of the best ways to help students improve academically. And it’s become a go-to strategy to help kids who missed a lot of instruction during the pandemic. But a new study suggests high-dosage tutoring can boost something else, too: attendance.
D.C. Mayor shares $4.8 million proposal to keep tutoring programs
March 20, 2024
Lauren Lumpkin//The Washington Post
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said she wants to spend $4.8 million to sustain intensive tutoring programs for students next year, extending a multiyear effort to help children recover from the setbacks they experienced during virtual learning.
DC Mayor Bowser announces high-impact tutoring investment
March 20, 2024
Daniel Hamburg
The high-impact tutoring initiative was established to help those impacted by COVID-19 learning disruptions and to help close academic disparities. Initially, federal funds covered the cost, but that funding will now come from the District’s budget. “We have been early adopters of high-impact tutoring, and we want to continue on the success,” Bowser said.
High Impact Tutoring Programs are also Improving Attendance
March 8, 2024
Scott Gelman//WTOP
D.C.’s high-impact tutoring efforts are also motivating students to go to school, according to preliminary findings from a review of the city’s programming. The city’s Office of the State Superintendent of Education gave a grant to the National Student Support Accelerator at Stanford University to review its tutoring programming. The final results of the multiyear study are expected to be released in the fall, but the interim findings highlight the relationship between tutoring and student attendance.
Learning Loss Win-Win: High-Impact Tutoring in DC Boosts Attendance, Study Finds
March 1, 2024
Linda Jacobson//The 74
High-quality tutoring programs not only get students up to speed in reading and math, they can also reduce absenteeism, a new study shows. Focused on schools in Washington, D.C., the preliminary results show middle school students attended an additional three days and those in the elementary grades improved their attendance by two days when they received tutoring during regular school hours.
AU Alumna finds new ways to educate DC students with Raising A Village
Oct. 19, 2023
Phillip Kulubya//The Eagle
In a profile by American University’s student newspaper, Jaleesa Hall, an AU alumna and founder, CEO of Raising a Village, an OSSE HIT grantee, describes Raising A Village’s growth and impact on students, with an emphasis on building relationships with students.
GW Serves: Computer Science Major Gives D.C. Schools Students His Undivided Attention
Oct. 5, 2023
Nick Erickson//GW Today
George Washington University Junior, Issouf Diarrassouba, a lead tutor for Math Matters, an OSSE-funded HIT program, shares his experience tutoring D.C. public middle school students.
OSSE Expands High-Impact Tutoring Program
Feb. 6, 2023
Sam P.K. Collins//Washington Informer
State Superintendent Christina Grant, District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) Chancellor Lewis Ferebee and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) recently converged on Cardozo Education Campus to announce the expansion of a citywide high-impact tutoring program designed to accelerate student learning.
D.C. expands tutoring services as schools weather academic declines
Feb. 2, 2023
Lauren Lumpkin//The Washington Post
D.C. is releasing $7 million in grants to expand tutoring programs, a continuation of a years-long effort to help students recover from the academic setbacks spurred by the pandemic, officials said Thursday. The grants are being issued to nine community organizations that will provide math and reading help in D.C. schools through next school year. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser previously said her administration would commit $39 million in federal recovery dollars to “high-impact tutoring” after test data last year revealed students had fallen dramatically behind in those subjects.
High-impact tutoring program to be expanded to serve an additional 3,600 DC students, Mayor Bowser says
Samantha Gilstrap//WUSA9
Feb. 2, 2023
Mayor Muriel Bowser says the high-impact tutoring program for D.C. students is scaling up. On Thursday, Bowser and the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) announced a third investment in high-impact tutoring (HIT) to serve an additional 3,600 students in Washington, D.C.
A New Playbook to Recruit Tutors: Tap Teachers in Training
Jan. 13, 2023
Asher Lehrer-Small//The 74
Amid labor shortages, hiring from teacher prep programs could ‘unlock’ up to a half million new tutor candidates nationwide, experts say
‘Wave of the future’: How DC’s million-dollar investment in tutoring is helping students catch up
Nov. 30, 2022
Scott Gelman//WTOP
“This is the wave of the future,” Cesar Chavez Middle School Principal Tre Christopher said. “This is the way we need to go in order to ensure that our scholars are really receiving what they need.”
Video Features:
Future of Tutoring Programs in Question | NBC4 Washington
Quick HIT Interviews
Blog
OSSE’s high-impact-tutoring efforts during the 2022-23 school year were successful in reaching students who need it the most, serving more students experiencing economic disadvantage than expected based on their proportion of all K-12 students in the District. Read more here.
For more information about OSSE’s High-Impact Tutoring initiative please email [email protected].
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