Having a tutoring structure in place has been especially helpful for our newer teachers. They appreciate that they can direct students to tutors for additional support—especially in specific subject areas—and that the tutors are equipped to meet the needs of English learners.
This structure has also helped our district streamline teachers’ standard review process. With support from our tutoring partner, OKCPS launched a Writing Lab—saving teachers time (and red ink). Through the Writing Lab, students drop off their papers and essays for asynchronous review, and academic writing tutors provides feedback within a few hours.
Measuring success and closing the gap
One of our current priorities at OKCPS is setting usage targets that will measure the success of providing online tutoring in our schools. For example, we are tracking the percentage of students who are using our online tutoring platform during the school year, and when students are interacting with tutors. We are also tracking how many students are using the platform at each school.
In addition, we are tracking interim benchmarks, beginning-, middle- and end-of-the-year growth measurements and state assessment comparisons across school years to ensure we are on track to reach our goals and milestones. This also ensures we are able to justify continued investment in online tutoring beyond pandemic-related funding.
At OKCPS, we recognize our responsibility to eliminate past, present and predictable barriers to student success by ensuring that all students have access to the resources—people, time and money—they need to engage in high-quality learning. Through online tutoring, we are equipping teachers (and students) with the resources they need to be successful.
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