Provider: Knox County School District
Program Description
This program provides small-group reading tutoring during each school’s existing intervention period, replacing that time rather than adding to it. Certified teachers or trained paraprofessionals work with groups of 2 to 6 students (most commonly 3 or 4) for 40–45 minutes, 5 days a week. The study tested whether tutoring works better when the materials match what students use in their regular classroom.
Findings
- Significant positive effect: Students whose tutoring materials matched their regular classroom curriculum gained just under one extra month of learning (+0.12 SD) in reading compared with students using different materials. A separate check of third graders only trended the same way, but results were not significant.
- Students received, on average, 63.9 hours of tutoring, with amounts nearly identical whether they received tutoring using instructionally aligned or mismatched materials. The difference in results reflects what was taught, not how much tutoring happened.
- Results were somewhat stronger for boys and lower-performing students, although their outcomes were not clearly different from girls or higher-performing students. There was no significant difference between teacher and paraprofessional tutors, though there was suggestive evidence that outcomes were better when the tutor was a paraprofessional.
- Both groups received the same amount of intervention time; the difference was whether the materials matched their classroom curriculum. Students with matching materials were more likely to be tutored by a teacher.
- English learners were excluded from the study entirely. There was no control group that did not receive tutoring at all. Dosage was tracked via attendance at school, not session-level tracking.
| Research Partner | Abt Global |
| Study Year | 2024-25 |
| Study Location | A large school district in Tennessee (4 schools) |
| Modality | In-Person |
| Study Design | RCT (Randomized Controlled Trial) |
| Total Sample | 328 students randomly assigned (296 included in the final results), across 4 schools |
| Characteristics of Treatment Group | Female: 50% Black: 18% Hispanic: 18% Asian: 1% American Indian/Pacific Islander: 1% English Language Learner: 0% (not eligible for this program) Students with Disabilities (IEP): Not reported Free/Reduced Price Lunch: Not reported |
| Subject | Reading/ELA |
| Grades | K, 1, 2, 3 |
| Average Actual Dosage | 63.9 hours |
| Scheduled Dosage | Not Reported |
For more about Accelerate’s takeaways from this study, check out the Accelerate blog
