3 Signs That You May Need Districtwide Online Tutoring
Many school districts struggle to connect students and teachers with the academic support resources they need to thrive. Teachers have a limited number of hours in the classroom with their students everyday, and they may be teaching in overcrowded classrooms with far too many students to support. As teacher staffing shortages continue across the nation, many schools struggle to keep students up to grade level, particularly when they contend with learning loss due to the pandemic. Have you noticed any of these signs in your district? If so, now may be the time to support students and educators districtwide with an online tutoring program.
1. Decrease in student performance
The pandemic had a significant impact on overall student learning. Students have struggled with a variety of challenges, including:
Unfinished learning
Many students missed a quarter year or more of learning in the initial stages of the pandemic, when schools shut down with little to no plan for reopening. Others may not have completed their entire school years during the years of hybrid or online learning. As a result, they might have vital learning gaps that prevent them from excelling in their current studies.
Opportunity gaps
The students who attended school during the pandemic may have missed out on the opportunities that their peers enjoyed in previous years. They may have missed field trips, hands-on learning activities, internships, or extracurricular learning opportunities. As a result, many of them are struggling to catch up on those missed opportunities.
Decreased graduation rates
Graduation rates dipped across the United States during the pandemic. Many high school students simply gave up, stepping out of the classroom altogether instead of choosing to push forward to earn that critical diploma. Many students continue to avoid moving forward with their secondary education plans due to learning gaps, lack of opportunity, or lack of personalized learning support.
High-impact online tutoring providers like Pear Deck Tutor (formerly TutorMe) can help with student learning recovery. Online tutoring can help improve overall student achievement and provide students with the tools they need to excel despite the challenges that may stand in their way. Furthermore, high-impact tutoring can help improve student engagement, address any learning gaps that might prevent them from achieving, and offer them the support they need to achieve their goals.
2. Teacher burnout
Teacher burnout has been an enormous problem for many school districts for a long time. Teachers are expected to work long hours for a relatively low salary. They may struggle to get support from parents and even receive a great deal of blame for any challenges a student endures. Many teachers also lack access to the learning tools and supplies they need for their students.
Burnout has become an even more pronounced problem due to the pandemic. Teachers, considered essential workers, were expected to return to highly public settings long before the rest of society was ready to frequent in-person events and environments.
Teachers are highly stressed – and often the sole providers of differentiated instruction that students operating across different grade levels may really need. Some students in their classrooms may have genuinely thrived throughout the pandemic. They may have learned very well through online learning models or have had adults around them who offered a heavy degree of support throughout that learning journey. As a result, they returned to the classroom ready to tackle on-level or even above-level material.
Others returned to school with severe learning gaps and significant learning loss, and they need their teachers to be able to support them as they recover that lost time and learning. In classrooms where students’ needs and understanding can span up to seven grade levels, expecting a single teacher to be the sole provider of differentiated learning support is unrealistic.
Pear Deck Tutor provides one-on-one tutoring support for students, meeting them exactly on their level. Tutors can support teachers by sharing the responsibility of providing individualized instruction to students.
3. Limited in-person tutoring programs
In-person tutoring programs can have several disadvantages, from a limited number of available tutors to inconvenient hours of operation. Partnering with Pear Deck Tutor, on the other hand, can help plug in the gaps in support associated with in-person tutoring programs.
Here are a few common limitations of in-person tutoring programs and how Pear Deck Tutor can address them.
A small pool of tutors
Often, in-person tutoring programs offer students a small pool of tutors to collaborate with. This can be problematic in several ways. The smaller the pool of available tutors, the more limited coverage of content areas. Furthermore, some students will simply learn better with some tutors than others. A small tutor pool may not accommodate the unique needs and preferences of each student. Pear Deck Tutor, on the other hand, provides access to a diverse community of thousands of verified tutors covering all K-12 subjects.
Limited availability
In-person tutoring programs often have limited overall availability. Tutors may not be available during all the hours students need to connect with them. As a result, some students may not be able to take advantage of those programs altogether. Some students may have after-school activities, jobs, and familial obligations that they juggle with their studies. Others may not have parents who can get them to and from those programs at convenient times that work around their busy schedules. Pear Deck Tutor, on the other hand, offers students unlimited access to quality academic support 24/7.
Students must show up in-person to get help
Sometimes, it can be difficult for students to show up in-person for a tutoring session. The cost or convenience of commuting may present an issue, or they may have anxiety when dealing with a tutor in-person. Pear Deck Tutor can help smooth over many of those difficulties. With Pear Deck Tutor, students can connect with a highly qualified tutor anywhere they have access to a computer or phone with internet access, whether in the convenience or privacy of their own home or at a sibling's football practice.
Would your district benefit from an online tutoring program?
If you've noticed a dip in student academic achievement and increase in teacher burnout in your district, then the support offered via your in-person tutoring program may be insufficient.
Providing your district with high-impact online tutoring is an important decision. Pear Deck Tutor can help you make the best decision for your students and faculty. Learn more about partnering with us to empower your district with 1:1, on-demand tutoring."
