The Illinois State Board of Education created two pathways for school districts to provide high-impact tutoring to support learning recovery. High-impact tutoring, an evidence-based practice recommended in the Illinois P-20 Council’s
Learning Renewal Resource Guide
, is proven to accelerate student learning.
District—Led High-Impact Tutoring
A district-led grant program is currently available for
invited districts. Local program administrators are responsible for recruiting tutors and making sure they complete required trainings in district-led high-impact tutoring. They are also responsible for ensuring delivery of high-impact tutoring and reporting student academic outcomes. ISBE will provide participating school districts with webinars and ongoing support and technical assistance to implement high-impact tutoring. Some of the key elements of high-impact tutoring are:
- Well-trained and consistent tutors
- Individualized instruction that aligns with curriculum and learning standards
- One-to-one or small group delivery for at least three sessions per week
- Sustained support
- Data driven
- In-person delivery
Illinois Tutoring Initiative
The Illinois Tutoring Initiative is currently offering high-impact tutoring to support student recovery through a partnership with higher education. Districts that have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic were invited to participate. The initiative features:
- Collaboration between institutions of higher education and school districts of need across the state;
- High-impact tutoring practices with focused one-to-one and small-group (maximum of three students) tutoring totaling three hours per week;
- Qualified tutors for K-12 students from among current teachers, retired teachers, teacher education candidates, higher education students, and other community partners;
- High-impact tutoring in literacy and math for students in Grades 3-8 (starting in spring 2022) and online tutoring in high school mathematics (starting in fall 2022);
- A combination of in-person and online tutoring; and
- Training, support, and supervision of tutors.
Eligible Districts
Eligible Districts: The Illinois Tutoring Initiative prioritizes serving students based on districts’ adequacy of funding, concentration of low-income students, disproportionate COVID-19 impact, lost in-person instructional time during the 2020-21 school year, and current level of academic support resources and programs. Eligible districts serving Grades K-8 that are interested in learning more can contact the Institutional Partner Office in their respective region listed below. Eligible districts interested in online tutoring for high school mathematics can contact Illinois State University, the coordinating institution, at
ILTutoringInitiative@ilstu.edu.
