The Future of Tutoring: Lessons from 10,000 School District Tutoring Initiatives

The inspiring story of the high-impact tutoring movement and its revitalization of the post-pandemic classroom Public education isn’t a sector known for quick change, but the COVID-19 pandemic turned schools into labs of innovation nationwide. By the pandemic’s end, a remarkable number of K–12 classrooms had come to embrace tutoring, particularly “high-impact tutoring” and its adaptable design. In The Future of Tutoring, Liz Cohen looks back at a unique revolution and finds that, with effective buy-in and thoughtful implementation, tutoring programs can improve academic performance for all students. Within a year into the pandemic, 10,000 US school districts were offering some sort of tutoring initiative after years of almost none. The lessons learned are vast. Traveling to Ohio, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Washington, DC, Cohen covers the ups and downs of this massive shift, with a special focus on high-impact tutoring, in which a small group of students work consistently with an adult at least three days a week. Whether the instruction was in-person or virtual, performed by district staff or college students, or focused on math or reading, this renewed investment in the student-tutor relationship helped educators design curricula around students’ specific needs and motivators, with measurable results. Cohen tells an inspiring story of administrators, practitioners, and state leaders all staking their reputations on a bold intervention. As leaders struggle with how to combat students’ learning loss, The Future of Tutoring shows where resources can make a real difference.

© 2025 Harvard Education Press (Ebook): 9798895570258

Release date

Ebook: September 3, 2025