Most students across the United States have experienced a shorter-than-normal school year so far in 2020. Many students haven’t stepped inside of a school since March, and aren’t sure when school will start again in the fall or what it will look like when they go back.
Different school districts had varying degrees of success with presenting online classes for their students, but the majority of schools weren’t really set up for that. It was still one teacher for a group of students, with even less time to devote to one-on-one support than normal.
A report in The New York Times showed many students falling months behind in their academic progress “with some losing the equivalent of a full year’s worth of academic gains.” The after-effects of the quarantine will continue even after in-person school resumes. “High school dropout rates could increase, researchers say, while younger children could miss out on foundational concepts in phonics and fractions that prepare them for a lifetime of learning and working.”
It has been difficult for some students to be consistently engaged in online school as some had to share access to a computer with siblings or parents who were working from home. The multi-student classroom setup with one teacher leading instruction left a lot of students bored and distracted.
How Tutoring Can Help
Private tutoring, whether online or in person, provides the one-on-one personalized instruction that students need in order to catch up. When a teacher is able to focus on one student at a time, they can quickly assess the student’s needs, design instruction around that, and deliver the kind of learning experience that best suits each child. They are also able to gauge student achievement and tie it together with student and parent goals.
Many free online activities and programs are available that can keep kids busy and involved in “educational” activity, but it is not a substitute for having a certified teacher provide individual private lessons specifically in the subject areas a student is lacking.
Not All Tutoring Services are the Same
As parents struggle with their own work/home demands, and worry about the lost opportunities for learning that their children have suffered due to school shutdowns, more parents are turning to private tutoring to close the gap. Tutoring as a whole has been growing in popularity worldwide, but the introduction of the COVID-19 quarantine has caused demand to explode. As a result, many services are available for parents to consider, but not all private tutoring is the same.
At TutorUp, all of our tutors are certified, experienced, background-checked teachers. Teachers are trained to assess, create lessons, employ multiple teaching methods, motivate, adapt, and evaluate. Besides being subject matter experts in the field and grade level they are certified in, teachers have a commitment to student success. All sessions, whether online or in person, are individualized and provide the kind of one-on-one attention and support parents expect from private tutoring.
