Personalized Learning
High dosage tutoring – defined as tutoring embedded during the school schedule that ensures students work consistently on individualized instructional content with their tutor throughout the school year – is among the most effective and cost-effective learning interventions studied to date. However, schools still face barriers to bringing high dosage tutoring to all students who could benefit. We work in partnership with school districts to understand whether and how we can scale high dosage tutoring programs to reach tens of thousands more students without compromising effectiveness.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated long-standing disparities in educational performance and attainment along race and class lines. Without dramatic intervention, we risk permanently reversing decades of steady, incremental progress in improving student outcomes. More importantly, we risk shortchanging students–primarily Black and low-income students–the opportunity to learn for decades to come. Despite the scale and gravity of the challenge, we know that there is an effective solution to address learning loss: high dosage tutoring. Research by the Education Lab, in partnership with CPS and Saga Education, shows that when done well, this approach can double or even triple the rate of student learning.
The Education Lab, in partnership with MDRC and Saga Education, is helping districts scale and rigorously study high dosage tutoring supports so that more students might benefit.
Our evaluation of Saga Education found that students who participated in Saga’s high dosage tutoring program for a single year gained 1-2.5 years of additional learning compared to students who did not.
Personalized Learning Initiative
The Personalized Learning Initiative (PLI) is a moonshot to overcome pandemic learning loss and aims to bring high-dosage tutoring to students nationwide.
Personalized Learning Initiative: Tutor Corps Evaluation
The University of Chicago Education Lab is partnering with Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to scale personalized tutoring in the wake of the pandemic.
Unlocking Literacy Potential: Bridging the Gap for High School Readers
In 2020, the Education Lab partnered with Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to rigorously design, test, and scale the impact of its Structured Literacy program on students’ reading proficiency levels.
Coaching with Computer-Assisted Learning (CAL)
The Education Lab partnered with Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to pilot the Coaching with CAL program, which offers high-dosage tutoring to students through education technology platforms.
Realizing the Promise of High Dosage Tutoring at Scale: Preliminary Evidence for the Field
This technical report outlines preliminary results from the Personalized Learning Initiative showing that high dosage tutoring can be scaled and can work–even when delivered in the aftermath of the pandemic and in diverse academic settings.
Personalized Learning Initiative Research Brief
Overview of the Personalized Learning Initiative, a nationwide R&D initiative to scale the benefits of tutoring.
Overcoming Pandemic-Induced Learning Loss
The Education Lab’s faculty co-directors, Dr. Jens Ludwig, professor at the University of Chicago, and Dr. Jon Guryan, professor at Northwestern University, published a paper commissioned by the Aspen Economic Strategy Group for its 2023 policy volume.
Not Too Late: Improving Academic Outcomes Among Adolescents
Read our academic paper on the early Saga studies published in the American Economic Review.
Latest Updates
AEI Education Policy Debate Series: $190 Billion Was Not Enough. The Feds Should Spend Billions More on Learning Loss.
In this installment of the American Enterprise Institute’s Education Policy Debate Series, education policy experts will debate the motion: “$190 billion was not enough: The federal government should spend billions more on pandemic learning loss.”
In Philanthropy: Ken Griffin Donates $9M Toward Miami Schools
The Observer’s Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly penned this piece on the announcement of a $9M gift to expand intensive math tutoring for Miami-Dade students from Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel and founder of Griffin Catalyst.
High-dosage tutoring can help remediate learning loss, but funding is running out
The Fordham Institute’s Jeff Murray highlights preliminary results from the Education Lab’s Personalized Learning Initiative, a moonshot to overcome pandemic learning loss.
