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The University of Oklahoma’s Transformative Tutoring Initiative (TTI) uses an innovative model of high impact tutoring that serves ninth-grade students who enter high school below proficiency in mathematics. TTI’s model is informed by the principles of self-determination theory and the science of learning (Deci & Ryan, 2012). It consists of one tutor (i.e., a university student) working with two/three low achieving ninth grade students for a full class period three times a week over an entire school year. The model combines features of effective high impact tutoring with innovative elements, including intensive support within the school day, rapid feedback, ongoing training of tutors, relationship-building, and reflective instructional practices based on mathematical proficiency principles (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2014).
During the past three years, TTI has served students who score, on average, at the 25th percentile in mathematics when entering ninth grade. TTI also serves high percentages of students eligible for free and reduced priced lunch; rural and urban students; Latino/a, Black, and Native American students; English language learners; and students with disabilities. TTI’s model has exhibited average gains amounting to an additional three-quarters of a year of learning in mathematics in randomized controlled trials.
Importantly, TTI has grown from serving one high school in our first year to reaching over 1,000 students at nine high schools as we enter Year 4. For the presentation, we will discuss implementation, process, and outcome data from students, parents, and tutors that have guided TTI’s expansion. By drawing on this research, we describe approaches that TTI has used to address financial, logistical, and staffing barriers to bringing high impact tutoring to scale. To reduce the cost of recruiting high-quality tutors, TTI has created a university-based Center to hire qualified undergraduate and graduate students. University students are ideal candidates for scaling TTI because they can often work during school hours and are likely to have the ability to teach ninth grade mathematics. Our research has also informed the development of a balanced tutor compensation package (i.e., $2,500 stipend and $2,500 scholarship each semester) that is higher than that of regular part-time work that university students tend to do in the region. Additionally, our work has shown that distance is a substantial logistical barrier for in-person high impact tutoring. We are reinventing our Center to become a statewide hub that partners with regional partner universities/colleges. These partner institutions will deliver the TTI model to local high schools with tutors from their respective campuses. Working with regional partners will ultimately reduce costs, enlarge the population of eligible tutors, and create a statewide network of university partners who are focused on raising mathematics achievement for underperforming high school students. This approach is particularly beneficial in rural states where there are significant geographic impediments to delivering high impact tutoring. Implementation research from TTI’s expansion efforts offers insight into ways of addressing barriers that have limited the growth of high impact tutoring programs.