
New Jersey Tutoring Corps: Finding Success in a Statewide Tutoring Program

The New Jersey Tutoring Corps is addressing learning loss in New Jersey’s highest-need districts. Established within the last two years with funding from the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund and the Overdeck Family Foundation, New Jersey Tutoring Corps is finding success in high-impact tutoring following the guidelines of the National Student Support Accelerator at Stanford and using assessment and curriculum from iReady.
More than Homework Help
“The New Jersey Tutoring Corps is not homework help. We are following research to combat learning gaps by working with school districts, YMCAs, and Boys and Girls clubs to offer high impact tutoring during the school day, after school and during summer break,” said Katherine Bassett, CEO of the New Jersey Tutoring Corps. “Students in need are identified through state testing and placed into small groups of no more than three, where they meet with the same tutor to review material in reading and math several times a week for as many as 15 weeks per cycle.”
The New Jersey Tutoring Corps offers three student support models, all proven to be effective:
- Embedded School Day: A 12 to 15-week cycle where students meet several times a week for 30 to 60 minutes per session.
- After School Tutoring: A 12 to 15-week cycle where students meet several times a week for 30 to 45-minute blocks of content.
- Summer Tutoring: An 8-week cycle where students meet for 30 to 60-minute sessions.
Relationship-Based Learning & Retention
An important component of effective tutoring, as identified by the National Student Support Accelerator, is relationships. By skillfully matching students and tutors and by providing students access to the same tutor for their entire learning cycle, the pair is able to build trust and consistency, leading to stronger educational outcomes. Tutors that have an in-depth understanding of a students’ needs allows him or her to develop special and specific lesson plans for each student.
In addition to positive student / tutor outcomes, the New Jersey Tutoring Corps has a 71% retention rate of field staff, which includes pre-service educators, substitute educators, community members with experience, and certified teachers. Bassett says it’s rewarding to work with pre-service educators. As students themselves, pre-service educators get to practice and hone their skills by working with students before obtaining their degrees.
Data-Driven Results
- Students in grades Pre-K through Eighth participating in the New Jersey Tutoring Corps program receive in-person support in literacy and math.
- Student gains have been significant with grade level performance improving from 18-28% in math and 24-27% in literacy.
- In addition to academic achievements, students are also evaluated based on their social-emotional growth. Many begin seeing themselves more confidently as learners and viewing learning with more enthusiasm.
The Pearl Partnership
The New Jersey Tutoring Corps partnered with Pearl, a leading research-based tutoring platform, to collect the data they needed to measure the success and growth of each student in the program. Instead of juggling Google Sheets and Docs filled with information, the New Jersey Tutoring Corps now has one location where everyone on the team can find and review quantitative data including attendance, dosage, SEL surveys as well as other open fields for the collection of qualitative insights. In this way, Pearl makes it easy for the New Jersey Tutoring Corps to serve its communities.
“Before Pearl, tracking what was done in each tutoring session was convoluted,” said Bassett. “It’s much more effective for our staff to review reliable data in the format generated by the Pearl platform. Our staff are also able to keep notes in a central location that can be referenced by themselves, parents and teachers.”
The New Jersey Tutoring Corps also uses Pearl to track attendance. Bassett says connecting a student’s success to how often they were able to attend a tutoring session offers valuable insight.
Looking to the Future
“The folks at the New Jersey Tutoring Corps follow a philosophy we strongly believe in and support,” said John Failla, founder and CEO of Pearl. “Not only do they implement evidence-based programs, but they are developing their own research to contribute to the high-impact, relationship-based format. It’s a pleasure to work with passionate educators to support student achievement.”
Relationship-focused tutoring has the potential to significantly alter the learning path for students in need. By utilizing advanced platforms like Pearl, the New Jersey Tutoring Corps provides not only premier instruction but also adeptly manages data-centric decision-making and reporting.
Overseeing a statewide tutoring program, with its diverse stakeholders and multiple locations, is inherently intricate. Choosing the right tools is essential for effective scaling. The collaboration between New Jersey Tutoring Corps and Pearl emphasizes the need for constant innovation and flexibility in high-quality tutoring, guaranteeing that every student is positioned to excel in our fast-changing educational environment.
To learn more about the New Jersey Tutoring Corps, visit: njtutoringcorps.org