Tutoring During COVID 19: “We’re about to see what happens when we turn up the volume on families and turn it down on schools,” according to Paul von Hippel, an associate professor in education policy at the University of Texas at Austin. Von Hippel was quoted in an opinion piece on disparities in student learning due to the pandemic that was published this past April in the journal Education Next, referring to the impact of the COVID-19 on learning and the more limited role of schools and teachers that has followed. All across the nation, parents have had to step into the field of education in a different way than ever before, taking a greater role in shaping how their children are learning and will continue to learn as the pandemic persists. Parents are reassessing education and ways they can help mitigate learning losses for their children.
Addressing the learning losses—now being called the “COVID slide”—is an additional complex challenge for parents to handle, on top of the shift from in-person learning to online distance learning, whether completely remote or via a hybrid situation. During most summer breaks, a “summer slide” has been observed for years, because students have no exposure to academic content; they fall behind for not engaging what they have learned. It seems that students are facing the same kind of situation as a result of the current pandemic that forced school closures and the rapid transition to online distance learning. The changeover has been difficult for everyone to navigate and especially problematic for students with limited access to the internet due to lack of WiFi and/or home computers or other devices. (Many educational leaders even have called the COVID slide an equity issue, and have agreed that it will take more than just a single semester to address learning losses that have resulted from shortened academic calendars and shift to remote learning.) This has left parents scrambling as they look for ways to use resources to help; and many have turned to tutors for educational support.
The demand for professional tutoring services has grown exponentially as the pandemic has persisted–parents want their children to make up for the time missed when schools shut down, as well as for academic gaps that have developed due to the challenges of online learning models. Professional tutoring services can help students manage their learning, whether they return full-time to open classrooms, transition to remote learning, or participate in a combination of the two in places where hybrid options are available. Tutors can help students reinforce what they have already learned, while also building on it to extend their knowledge and stay or get back on track academically.
In the elementary grades, the pandemic experience is impacting the foundations for literacy, resulting in a year or two of learning loss in basic reading skills. And it is also wreaking havoc on secondary school students who are facing the challenge of completing their course curriculum and making sure they are prepared for college while navigating this unprecedented public health crisis. Parents and students are seeing good results, finding that one-on-one or small group tutoring is standing as the best, most successful approach for addressing learning loss. Pre-pandemic research has shown that tutoring is significantly effective in boosting student achievement, and the evidence continues to grow as so many have engaged professional tutors to help.
Tots ‘N Tutors, a professional tutoring company that offers support to students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade and college, provides students the skills necessary to expand their minds and achieve their academic goals. Tots ‘N Tutors is ready to offer quality educational services through structured tutoring tailored to your child face the challenges of learning during the current pandemic and beyond. Our learning guides meet with students individually or in small groups to help students with comprehension of information in all subject areas. Contact Tots ‘N Tutors today to discuss the in-person and virtual availability of tutors who are committed to helping your child stay on track throughout the educational journey.