FAQ

High-impact tutoring (sometimes referred to as high-dosage tutoring) is a proven way to accelerate and enhance student learning and well-being. It begins with tutors establishing strong connections with young people, as students who know their tutor cares about them will be more deeply engaged in teaching and learning. It also means working to ensure tutor effectiveness by carefully selecting, training, and managing tutors. Tutors should have a rigorous curriculum to work with. And tutoring has to be at “just-right” level of intensity — running at least 90 minutes a week for 2-3 months, in small groups of four or smaller. To learn more, check out our standards for high-impact tutoring.

There are a lot of things that our community has to do right by its education system — better teacher pay, school safety, creating nurturing environments, just to name a few. Luckily, the federal government is stepping up to help. But given how much it can support student learning, high-impact tutoring should be part of the mix. From what we have learned from the research and our own experience, forging partnerships between schools and tutoring providers can be difficult. That’s where CityTutor DC comes in, building the coalition and connecting partners to increase capacity for high-impact tutoring to work on behalf of young people.

Good tutoring can make teachers’ jobs easier and enable them to be more creative. For example, students who, with the help of a tutor, learn how to read confidently can readily participate in class discussions about books they’re reading in class. Students who get a solid conceptual foundation in math with the help of a tutor can work with their classmates on interesting projects where they apply math concepts to real-world situations. And tutors can share important information with teachers about the progress their students are making — such as what kinds of activities get individual students excited to learn.

CityTutor DC is helping to match interested volunteers, like you with local tutoring organizations looking for volunteers. Complete this short form on our website and we will be in touch soon with opportunities aligned to your needs. Other tutoring providers may be recruiting full-time, paid tutors. Please see the bottom of our Join page to see any available opportunities.

You can always ask your school administrators about tutoring opportunities they provide and whether your student qualifies. On each provider profile, you can see if your student’s school is listed as a partner for tutoring if the school is using a CityTutor provider. And the DC Tutoring and Mentoring Initiative has a webpage where you can sign up to get a tutor or a mentor for someone in your family.

CityTutor DC coalition members work with students in any part of the city. We focus on students who are deemed at-risk — students whose families are receiving public assistance, who are in foster care, or who are experiencing homelessness — as these are some of the students most impacted by the pandemic. We’ve chosen to focus on two subjects: literacy and math. Research has shown reading is so important to future school success, and math data shows that students need intensive support in this subject.

Start by taking a look at our database of tutoring providers we’ve reviewed against our standards for high-impact tutoring. You’ll find more information about what these organizations do, as well as contact information for them. You can also contact us and we can provide guidance.

CityTutor Hubs are partnerships with community-based organizations to provide high-impact tutoring outside of schools. Each of the six Hubs will provide tutoring to 50 or more students in SY 2022-23. If your organization is interested in applying to become a SY 2022-2023 CityTutor Hub, we are accepting applications on a rolling basis and you can apply here.

Of course! Our standards for high-impact tutoring are a good place to start in thinking about the building blocks for high-impact tutoring. We have also collaborated with the Office of the State Superintendent for Education (OSSE) to develop a high-impact tutoring toolkit to support implementation, check it out here. 

We’re squarely focused on students within the District’s borders.

For starters, DC does not yet have enough high-impact tutoring opportunities to meet the needs of the District, particularly in math. The funding we’re providing helps build capacity of our tutoring providers to partner with schools in a way that is aligned to the research on effective and impactful tutoring. CityTutor DC will also be recruiting national providers to collaboratively partner with in expanding access to high-impact tutoring. Tutoring is most effective when it’s integrated in schools, but in some cases offering tutoring means schools must make adjustments to their schedules and operations. We support school leaders in this redesign and change management process and have some resources available to consider in our toolkit.

CityTutor DC is also partnering with community-based organizations to offer tutoring, as we know some students will gain the most from tutoring outside of school. We are also building networks and communities of practice so that schools, tutoring organizations, and community-based organizations can learn from one another.

The organizations we’re working with are drawing tutors from a wide variety of backgrounds. Some of the organizations provide virtual tutors who are experienced teachers from all over the country. Some of the organizations recruit and train tutors from the ranks of local colleges and universities. Some draw volunteers from within the communities of the schools they serve. Others still get their tutors from AmeriCorps and national service organizations. We are looking to build a robust tutoring force with diverse backgrounds to serve the students of the city.

The federal government’s American Rescue Plan relief funding provided over $40M over three years to help DC schools pay for tutoring. CityTutor DC is paying some of the costs of tutoring with philanthropic funds but is primarily focused on creating the supply and infrastructure for tutoring, and building school-level capacity to make lasting partnerships using their recovery funding for student acceleration.

Thank you for your generosity! You can donate online here, or you can reach out to us at contactus@citybridge.org. We will make arrangements for your donation and be sure to get you a receipt.