In-Person Tutoring Helps Hudsonville Students Access Targeted Support and Accelerate Reading Growth
Hudsonville Public Schools Hudsonville, MI
Challenges
Benchmark assessments revealed unfinished learning in reading due to the pandemic.
Students in grades 1-8 needed personalized support, focused on specific skills.
Intervention was needed outside of the school day.
We identified foundational reading skills and comprehension skills that needed to be addressed. We began to look at tutoring as a way to provide extra support in addition to the interventions provided during the school day.
Results
Improvements
On average, tutoring participants have made more growth on the Star Reading assessment than students district-wide.
Students report that they feel more confident.
Teachers enjoy tutoring, resulting in a growing tutoring force.
Grades
PreK-12
Schools
13
Students
6,841
Economically disadvantaged
13.1%
English language learners
1.1%
White
88.7%
Hispanic/Latino
4.8%
Two or more races
2.9%
Black/African American
1.8%
Asian or Asian Pacific Islander
1.6%
American Indian or Alaska Native
0.2%
In-Person Tutoring Helps Hudsonville Students Access Targeted Support and Accelerate Reading Growth
In Hudsonville Public Schools (HPS) in Michigan, students have a history of performing well on state assessments. Yet, like many districts, HPS saw learning setbacks as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, data from the Renaissance Star Reading assessment and Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark Assessment Systems showed evidence of unfinished learning. “We identified foundational reading skills and comprehension skills that needed to be addressed,” said Kathy Levandoski, MTSS coordinator for HPS. “We began to look at tutoring as a way to provide extra support in addition to the interventions provided during the school day.”
HPS partnered with Littera Education in the fall of 2021 to implement a high-impact, in-person tutoring program that would work within the district’s Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework. The district’s first tutoring session ran from Oct. 4 to Nov. 10 in every elementary and middle school.
Star Reading assessment data revealed that students who participated in the tutoring showed more growth than students who did not participate.
- On average, 83% of reading tutoring students achieved growth from September to December. Of these students, 59% achieved a half-year’s growth and 30% achieved a full year’s growth.
- In comparison, 75% of students across the entire district achieved growth. Of these students, 54% achieved a half-year’s growth and 27% achieved a full year’s growth.
“The results were incredibly encouraging,” said Levandoski. “We were meeting students’ needs in a way that we hadn’t before. It made us think that our program had merit.”
When we were designing our program, we kept in mind all of the design principles for effective tutoring, and we feel like the Littera platform has made those principles accessible to us.
Providing in-person tutoring in every elementary and middle school
HPS uses district staff to deliver in-person tutoring in reading in all eight elementary schools and two middle schools. Most of the tutors are teachers; a few are paraprofessionals and student teachers. The reading tutoring curriculum (Teachers College Reading and Writing Project), chosen by the district and delivered by the tutors, encompasses foundational reading skills as well as fiction and nonfiction comprehension. All of the curriculum materials are integrated into the Littera Tutoring Management System (TMS), and tutors use the TMS to personalize tutoring for every learner.
“Having the reading curriculum available in the Littera platform makes it incredibly user friendly,” said Levandoski.
Within each school, an HPS academic specialist selects students for tutoring based on their assessment data and teacher recommendations. Students in grades 1-8 receive tutoring three times a week for 40 minutes a day.
“We provide 1:1 and small group tutoring, based on students’ needs and the number of tutors in the school, but we never go above groups of three students,” said Levandoski. “When we were designing our program, we kept in mind all of the design principles for effective tutoring, and we feel like the Littera platform has made those principles accessible to us.”
Removing barriers
HPS offers tutoring before school, after school, or during the school day. It gives elementary school participants the option to have transportation from school directly to home at 4:35 p.m. Middle school students are given the option to have transportation from designated locations to school for 7 a.m. tutoring.
“We wanted to offer transportation to remove that barrier for families,” said Levandoski. “If parents can transport their children, they can choose tutoring on either side of the school day.”
Tracking and reporting data
The Littera TMS captures feedback and details from every tutoring session. In addition, the platform’s district-wide reporting dashboard allows administrators to view key attendance and session completion metrics that can be filtered by school, program, session date, tutor, and student.
“Our tutors use the Littera platform to track student attendance and engagement each day,” said Sarah Woodring, professional development and instructional technology coach for HPS. “They can also mark if a student completed a session, and if the student is ready to move on or if they need to revisit the lesson on another day.”
“Where we have found the most value in the reports is with our academic specialists,” said Levandoski. “We have one academic specialist in each school. They use the data in the Littera platform to help make decisions about which students to invite for another round of tutoring.”
Overall, our students who have gone through tutoring are making bigger jumps than they would have if they had been in the classroom without any of the support from the tutoring.
Improving student growth on Star Reading assessments
HPS’s benchmark assessment data shows that the tutoring is making an impact. On average, students who participated in the tutoring in the fall of 2021 demonstrated greater growth in their Star Reading grade equivalent scores than students who did not participate. HPS saw similar results in the spring of 2022.
“Overall, our students who have gone through tutoring are making bigger jumps than they would have if they had been in the classroom without any of the support from the tutoring,” said Woodring.
“The data over time shows that they are making growth,” said Levandoski.
Improving students’ skills and confidence in summer school
In 2022, HPS offered in-person tutoring during the summer as well. “We ran a summer school in each building three weeks before school started. We called it a jumpstart to the school year,” said Levandoski.
Students attended for half a day, Monday through Thursday, for three weeks. Each day, they received 40 minutes of tutoring in reading using the Littera TMS.
“Students’ confidence levels improved. They enjoyed the tutoring and felt that they became better readers,” said Levandoski.
“They said that things that were hard at the beginning weren’t hard anymore,” said Woodring. “They noticed a difference in their ability.”
| Students | # of students | Any growth | ½ year of growth or more | 1 full year of growth or more |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading tutoring students | 58 | 83% | 57% | 28% |
| Entire district | 2,447 | 72% | 47% | 23% |
| Students | # of students | Any growth | ½ year of growth or more | 1 full year of growth or more |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading tutoring students | 69 | 71% | 52% | 23% |
| Entire district | 2,662 | 69% | 47% | 24% |
The Board of Education has been very supportive....Parents love that their kids can receive this extra support and that it’s free. Our teachers love participating, too.
Receiving positive feedback
Since 2021, HPS has received positive feedback from stakeholders across the district.
“Our tutoring program has been very well-received,” said Levandoski. “The Board of Education has been very supportive in making this program a priority and they have celebrated with us. Our community has been appreciative. Parents love that their kids can receive this extra support and that it’s free. Our teachers love participating, too. We not only retain our tutors, but our tutoring force grows every time we start a new session. Our teachers value this program and they talk about how much they enjoy working closely with our students.”
According to Levandoski, HPS is now meeting the needs of more students and in a more equitable way. “The tutoring program with Littera enables us to provide extra support for students in a systematic way across our buildings,” she said.
HPS educators feel supported, too. “The people at Littera are fantastic,” said Levandoski. “They are incredibly responsive and they have been very accepting of our feedback. I know they value that and are working to benefit all.”