Measuring Tutors’ Success: High Impact or Bust?

Presented by Dr. Daniel Stanhope, Founding Researcher, LearnPlatform; Brian Galvin, Chief Academic Officer, Varsity Tutors; Nancy Waymack, Director of Research Partnerships and Policy, National Student Support Accelerator, Annenberg Institute; Vincent Quan, Co-Executive Director, J-PAL North America, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab; and Tara García Mathewson, Education Reporter, Languages Editor, The Hechinger Report

Sponsored by Varsity Tutors

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Emerging data suggest that online tutoring can be as effective as traditional, face-to-face models—a welcome development as school leaders tap tutoring to quickly accelerate learning in the wake of recent data showing the extreme impacts of COVID. As new modalities emerge, how do schools assess what works for which students’ needs? What data and early indicators can help guide the deployment of tutoring? View this edLeader Panel to explore how to take a data-informed approach to deploying, evaluating, and refining a learning recovery strategy.

Viewers learn about the current research on tutoring as schools scale learning recovery programs nationwide, how to build research and evaluation into a district’s tutoring program, and how to effectively deploy online tutoring programs and leverage new technology to make a bigger impact.

This recorded edLeader Panel is of interest to K-12 school leaders, district leaders, and education technology leaders.

About the Presenters

Dr. Daniel Stanhope is the founding researcher at LearnPlatform. Dr. Stanhope received his Ph.D. in I/O psychology from North Carolina State University and has worked as an applied scientist and research methodologist across multiple sectors. He taught at a research university and publishes in numerous outlets, including the Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Research on Technology in Education, and Journal of Personnel Psychology. Dr. Stanhope is a reviewer for multiple academic journals and sits on the editorial review board of the Journal of Online Learning Research. He has served as PI on multiple federal projects, including SBIR grants from IES. He also served on advisory committees, including the EdTech Genome Project, Consortium for School Network (CoSN) Digital Equity Committee, and Triangle Learning Network.

Brian Galvin is the chief academic officer for Varsity Tutors, the nation’s largest live learning platform. A lifelong educator with a master’s degree in education from the University of Michigan, he has taught thousands of students, trained hundreds of instructors, and authored dozens of lesson books. At Varsity Tutors he oversees the development of live academic and enrichment classes, adaptive assessments, and on-demand learning programs. He is also the creator and host of the company’s StarCourse lessons—taught with astronauts, Olympians, TV hosts, and other distinguished teachers—and Test Prep 4 All series. His educational videos have over three million views on YouTube.

Nancy Waymack is the director of research partnerships and policy for the National Student Support Accelerator at the Annenberg Institute. Most recently, she has served as a senior program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and an education policy consultant. Prior to joining the Gates Foundation, Nancy was the managing director of district policy at the National Council on Teacher Quality. Nancy spent a decade at the San Francisco Unified School District, where she served as the executive director for policy and operations. Prior to moving to San Francisco, Nancy was the assistant budget director at the District of Columbia Public Schools and an elementary school teacher in Houston.

Vincent Quan is the co-executive director of J-PAL North America. Together with Laura Feeney, his co-executive director, Vincent leads the office’s efforts to reduce poverty by ensuring policy is informed by rigorous evidence in the North American region. Vincent provides strategic direction to the policy and training teams and oversees partnership development and outreach for the office. Prior to his role as co-executive director, Vincent led the policy team at J-PAL North America. Before joining J-PAL, Vincent worked at the Prison Law Office, where he conducted research to improve conditions of confinement in prisons across California, and at the Legal Aid Society in New York City, where he assisted low-income residents in navigating the criminal court system. He holds a master’s in public administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a BA in history from UC Berkeley.

Tara García Mathewson is an award-winning reporter who has covered a range of beats since she got her start in daily news in 2010, but she has always gravitated toward the complexity and urgency inherent in covering the nation’s schools. At The Hechinger Report, she covers inequality and innovation in K-12 education, nationally, and she oversees coverage for Hechinger en Español as the languages editor. Her work has appeared in a variety of regional and national news outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, The Boston Globe Magazine, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She earned a Bachelor of Science in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

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Varsity Tutors for Schools is your all-in-one live learning platform that delivers personalized learning to every student in your school district. Whatever challenges your students face, our proven solutions can be customized to meet their needs, providing equitable access to everything from on-demand to 1-on-1 high-impact tutoring to adaptive assessments.