Our Program and Evaluation Methods
Our Program
The New Jersey Tutoring Corps provides tutoring services to scholars in grades PreK-8 throughout the state. We began offering services in the summer of 2021, by partnering with Boys and Girls Clubs of NJ and the Y Alliance of NJ, offering tutoring services during an eight-week summer program onsite at clubs or at the schools with which they partner for summer programs.
We have now run three program cycles: summer 2021, school-year 2021/22 with after-school programming, and summer 2022. Currently, we are diversifying to include a school-year embedded school-day model as well as summer and after-school programs.
For our school-year program, we are looking to partner directly with schools/districts and will still run our summer program in partnership with Boys and Girls and Y Alliance clubs.
Using a high-dosage tutoring model, we work to hold group size to no more than 1:3 tutor to scholar ratio.
Training
Our tutors and field leaders – Site Coordinators and Instructional Coaches – are extensively trained prior to working with scholars. Training typically involves the following components, over a 1-2 week period, with scheduling flexibility.
- Curricular Training in iReady Math and Literacy
- Role Based Training
- Social Justice Skills
- Social and Emotional Learning Skills
- Professionalism
- Asset-Based Mindset
- Giving and Receiving Feedback
- Operational logistics
- Knowtion- professional learning community
Growing a pipeline of educators and leaders
Our high-dosage tutoring model produces statistically significant results in content knowledge, scholar attitudes towards learning. In addition, it grows the practice of educators, providing teacher leadership experience to those certified educators who choose a leadership role as either a Site Coordinator or Instructional Coach and offers clinical experience to those pursuing teacher certification. .
Evaluation
In addition to our data exports from curricula used in our program, we conduct surveys of all field staff and scholars in grades 3-5. We shared these data points with an external evaluator in the case of our first summer program, and with an external researcher in subsequent programs. Using our data, and data that they collected about our program, external evaluation reports are produced by our research partners. Those reports are linked under each program cycle description below.
Program Evaluation Reports
At the end of each program cycle, we work with an external evaluator or researcher to conduct an independent analysis of program efficacy. Each of our reports – one per program cycle – is linked below. Please access these reports for a full view of our impact data.
Most Recent Program Impact
We made a significant change in our summer 2022 program by switching our curricula to all iReady, for both Literacy and Math. This was an important change in that iReady has strong diagnostic data reporting that allows us to see more clearly where our scholars begin and end the program. iReady uses Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT) and many of our scholars and field staff were unfamiliar with this model. We saw a dip in our results accordingly, as scholars who became frustrated with seeing questions on material not yet covered rushed through the assessments. A key take-away for us moving forward, is that we need to intensify training to help our field staff understand CAT to be better able to prepare scholars for these kinds of assessments.
Math
Across all grade levels, the percent of scholars performing at grade level in math improved from 18% to 28%. These gains were statistically significant at the 99% level. Gains were also seen across all grade levels.
- Kindergarten: In kindergarten, grade level proficiency increased from 39% to 58%.
- Grade 1: In first grade, grade level proficiency increased from 16% to 24%.
- Grade 2: In second grade, grade level proficiency increased from 15% to 25%.
- Grade 3: In third grade, grade level proficiency increased from 38% to 57%.
- Grade 4: In fourth grade, grade level proficiency increased from 8% to 18%.
- Grade 5: In fifth grade, grade level proficiency increased from 13% to 19%.
Literacy
Across all grade levels, the percent of scholars performing at grade level in literacy improved from 24% to 27%. Gains were seen across most grade levels and were statistically significant at the 99% level for second graders.
- Kindergarten: In kindergarten, grade level proficiency increased from 35% to 45%.
- Grade 1: In first grade, grade level proficiency increased from 15% to 17%.
- Grade 2: In second grade, grade level proficiency increased from 20% to 31%.
- Grades 3-5: In third grade through fifth grade, grade level proficiency either remained constant or declined slightly.
Scholar Voice
Gathering input from our scholars directly on how they feel about learning, about math and/or literacy, about engagement is very important to us. We collect qualitative data via survey for scholars in grades 3 to 5. Our results are shown below.
As a program, we are also incredibly proud of the growth experienced by our field staff. Read the full summer 2022 report to learn of their insights about the program, the growth they experienced, and their interactions with and growth of scholars.