Want to Increase Tutoring Attendance? Do These 10 Things

As Vice President of Tutoring Services here at Carnegie Learning, it’s my job to partner with districts to help them build the most effective, sustainable tutoring programs possible. 

Research shows that high-dosage tutoring is one of the most effective ways we have to get students to grade level and keep them there, but it only works if students show up.

Even though districts around the country are offering tutoring services at unprecedented levels, some studies suggest that programs remain underutilized, especially in schools where students stand the most to gain.

So, how can we fix this? Like any complex challenge, there are multiple approaches, and change won’t happen overnight. But here are ten ways your school or district can raise attendance at tutoring sessions—and keep kids coming back.      

1. Inform Your School Community About Tutoring Services 

With the relative newness of high-dosage tutoring, many schools and districts aren’t quite sure how to market the service to families who need it. I know this from experience. When we first launched our tutoring service at Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland, things were a little slow because students, teachers, and caregivers weren’t really sure what it was. In those early months, students only attended about 45% of the appointments they had scheduled.  

So, to get the word out and increase attendance, we made flyers that the district could distribute, held Zoom Q&A sessions with families, and encouraged schools to talk about tutoring on their social media channels and at PTO or PTA meetings.

Once we made it easy for districts to communicate with caregivers about why students should attend tutoring and set up methods for teachers to refer students to the program, attendance began to pick up, and we saw students attending 75% of the appointments they had booked.  

2. Make Sure Tutoring Is High-Caliber

Students are more likely to attend and return to tutoring sessions if they receive high-quality instruction. Most students can get simple homework help from friends, teachers, or family members, so your tutors should give them more: deep learning in skills and content that builds on what they’re learning in class.  

Since tutor quality is such a high predictor of tutoring attendance, when I set up my program, I decided to only hire certified teachers who have invested in the profession and know how to work with students.  

Another way to ensure high-caliber tutoring is to inquire about the ongoing training and support that tutors receive. Best practices can change, so tutors need regular training to stay current with their content and pedagogical knowledge.

For virtual tutoring, tutors also need technical training so they’ll know how to use the video conferencing platform and feedback tools.

Lastly, because every state and district is different, tutors must be trained to address any nuances or unique elements in the curriculum they teach. 

3. Be Thoughtful About Tutoring Schedules 

Students have busy lives, so tutoring needs to happen at times when they can actually show up. Schools that can work tutoring into the school day often see the best attendance rates. 

Holding tutoring sessions during school hours will also go a long way in making your program more equitable since many students have after-school jobs, sibling or elder care responsibilities, or other commitments after school or on the weekends. 

4. Get Classroom Teachers on Board 

Quality tutoring programs will be in lockstep with the content, scope, sequence, and learning goals of the district it serves, and this synchronicity will help you gain teacher support.

Once teachers understand that tutors are there to enhance what they do by giving individualized attention to the students who need it most, they can motivate students to attend tutoring sessions. 

Open communication between teachers and tutors—who are natural allies—is a hallmark of my tutoring program. I encourage all my tutors to check in with teachers if a student misses a session. Whether something is going on at home or the student has been ill, chances are, teachers will have the info—or be able to track it down. 

Our data shows that the more people we can involve in a student’s tutoring journey, the more likely they are to attend regularly. 

5. Encourage Tutors To Build Connections With Students

As the old saying goes, “No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.”

Just like learning in a classroom largely depends on the relationship between teachers and students, when students feel connected with their tutors, they will be more likely to show up and work hard.

Tutors should have ample experience building relationships with students and take an active interest in their lives. Every session should start with a conversation where the tutor takes the student’s emotional pulse and inquires about both significant and casual events in the student’s life since they met last.  

Although relationships take time to build, tutors should consider familiarizing themselves with a student’s primary interests in their first session together with a “snap survey” or other get-to-know-you activity.    

6. Don’t Forget To Involve Caregivers

If students receive at-home tutoring, building relationships with caregivers is an excellent way to get more students to show up to tutoring sessions. Early on, I advise tutors to ask students to invite adults in the home to sit in on the session.

When caregivers feel involved in the tutoring process, they become another voice encouraging the student to attend sessions. And, especially when we have contact info and can let them know about missed appointments, caregivers often become some of our best supporters. 

I remember one student who signed up for two Saturday sessions on the same day. They missed the first session, and their mom got a text while she was at the store. She dropped her shopping to get home in time for the second session and actually got on the computer first, apologized to the tutor, and asked the child to take responsibility for missing the session, which they did. You can bet that child will probably not miss another session anytime soon! 

Just because it gets said all the time doesn’t mean it’s not true: it really does take a village.   

7. Find Creative Ways to Combat Screen Time Burnout

After years of virtual learning, keeping kids engaged on their screens can be challenging. In a class of 30 virtual learners, it wasn’t uncommon for kids to turn off their cameras and zone out, and for some, this became the norm. We need to find ways to acknowledge and combat this reality.  

Good virtual tutoring programs use a variety of strategies and techniques to keep kids learning on their screens. One way to engage students is to conduct tutoring sessions 1-on-1 or in very small groups. It’s virtually impossible to check out when you’re one of three or four students in a lesson. 

Secondly, tutors need to make sure that every lesson builds in ample student response time. Online tutoring and lectures don’t really mix. To keep students engaged, they need to know that they will constantly be asked to show what they know. 

Lastly, tutors should reward students with short games or other brain breaks when they demonstrate that they are staying engaged.  

8. Focus on Students’ Assets 

Students will be more likely to return to tutoring sessions if they know that tutors will focus on their assets—not their deficits. An asset-based approach embraces everyone because it assumes, correctly, that everyone has something to contribute. 

As one of my colleagues, Sandy Bartle Finocchi, often says, “Students aren’t blank slates. They’re messy boards!” And even if they think they have nothing to contribute to a lesson, it’s a teacher’s job to activate that prior knowledge and prove to students that they already know a lot—and can learn even more. 

Every tutoring session should start with the tutor asking questions so students can communicate what they know. 

For example, when teaching mathematics, we use a re-engagement model where we start with a worked-out example of the type of problem a student and tutor will solve together later in the lesson.

The tutor begins with questions like, “What do you notice?” and “What are some things you can tell me about this problem?” Students start the lesson with reinforcement of what they can do before being challenged by the material they still need to learn.

And this validation will encourage them to come back for more tutoring.  

9. Collect Data    

To build the type of tutoring program that students will keep returning to, getting feedback from the students you are serving is a good idea.

We regularly ask students simple questions like, “Was the session helpful?” and “Was the information presented clearly?” If students answer negatively, we’ll dig a little deeper to discover how we need to tweak the sessions so they are meeting needs better. 

We also collect data on academic growth with pre-tests to measure baseline knowledge, exit tickets to show us whether students have mastered content or need a review, and post-tests to determine what the student has learned after tutoring. This data can be shared with a student to show their progress and motivate them to keep showing up!      

10. Offer Incentives 

It won’t take students long to see that academic advancement is the greatest incentive to keep up with tutoring sessions, but it never hurts to offer a few bonus rewards.  

We enter students with good tutoring attendance records into gift card drawings. Rewarding students who are doing well is fun, and incentives also create buzz about a tutoring program.   

With everything going on in students’ lives, it can be challenging to get them to come to tutoring but don’t give up trying. Those extra tutoring sessions may be just the thing that helps them succeed.