The National Student Support Accelerator released a report of a pilot study conducted by Stanford University researchers exploring the impact of a high-impact early literacy tutoring program called “Once” on kindergarten and first-grade students’ literacy outcomes. Once is designed to be implemented in 15-minute daily one-on-one literacy tutoring sessions during the school day, featuring structured lesson plans, weekly live coaching for tutors, and data to monitor student progress and adapt to their ongoing learning needs.
The study took place during the 2022-2023 school year in a large, urban school district on the East Coast with over 300 students who were identified as scoring below grade-level benchmarks in early literacy skills in 13 schools. A randomized controlled trial was used to assign eligible students to either Once tutoring provided by non-teaching staff (n=105) or a business-as-usual comparison group (n=199).
The findings indicated that students who received Once tutoring generally made larger gains on end-of-year DIBELS assessments compared to those who did not receive tutoring (effect size =+0.05), with more pronounced results among males and those who performed well below benchmark. However, these improvements were not statistically significant, partially due to the small analytic sample sizes and partially due to factors related to implementation. Treatment students received significantly fewer sessions than expected; instead of the targeted 140 sessions between November and June, students received an average of 42 sessions. The study highlighted that students with additional needs, such as those designated for Special Education or classified as English Learners, received more tutoring sessions on average.
Although the results point toward a positive impact of the Once program, the study suggests that larger-scale research is necessary to determine the statistical significance of these findings. It also offered insights into the benefits and challenges of using existing non-teaching staff to deliver high-impact tutoring.
Source (Open Access): Bennett, E., Lee, M., Loeb, S., & Robinson, C. (2024). Effects of high-impact tutoring on early literacy outcomes: A pilot study of a 1:1 program with existing staff. National Student Support Accelerator, Stanford Graduate School of Education.https://studentsupportaccelerator.org/sites/default/files/Effects%20of%20High-Impact%20Tutoring%20on%20Early%20Literacy%20Outcomes.pdf