For several years, federal pandemic relief funds helped school districts across the U.S. expand “high-impact” (or “high-dosage”) tutoring programs that improved student learning. Now that the main source of funding has expired, many education leaders are scrambling to keep those programs afloat.
Between March 2020 and March 2021, Congress allocated nearly $190.5 billion to public education through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund, the largest one-time federal investment in K-12 education in U.S. history. The funding ended in phases between 2022 and 2024, though some districts received extensions.
In response, some districts have paused or significantly scaled back tutoring, while others are working to save it by weaving it directly into their core academic systems and budgets. A 2026 analysis of 35 districts by the National Student Support Accelerator (NSSA) found that eight districts had significantly reduced their tutoring programs and another eight had experienced a pause or disruption after ESSER ended. However, 19 districts — more than half of those studied — preserved or expanded their tutoring programs.
Research shows that “high-impact” tutoring, also referred to as “high-dosage” tutoring, has been the most powerful intervention to make up for pandemic learning loss. It typically occurs at least three times a week, providing targeted instruction in coordination with regular classroom work. The NSSA notes that programs featuring frequent sessions over at least 10 weeks, delivered individually or in small groups, with data-driven instruction can generate three to 15 months of additional learning.
But according to research from the Annenberg Institute at Brown University, high-impact tutoring costs an estimated $1,200 to $2,500 per student annually, making it difficult for many districts to pay for it without ESSER funds.
For schools that have heavily invested in these programs and are trying to retain their benefits, the challenge is making tutoring astandard fixture. Devon Wible, vice president of teaching and learning at Catapult Learning, which provides tutoring programs to schools, says that districts in several states are increasingly viewing tutoring as a foundational layer of academic support.
“A few years ago, when ESSER funds were here, the conversation was, ‘Let’s see if it works,’” Wible says. “Now it’s, ‘How do we sustain this?’”
Building Tutoring Into Existing Systems
One way districts are trying to make tutoring last is by keeping it as part of the regular school day and existing academic-support systems. While this does not eliminate the cost of tutoring, it is less expensive than creating a separate, extracurricular program.
Wible says some districts have added intervention periods or “WIN” (What I Need) blocks to their schedules, giving students time for extra support without pulling them away from core instruction. She notes that the approach also encourages tighter collaboration among classroom teachers, tutors and intervention staff, who share student data and work toward common academic goals.
The tutoring is designed to align with classroom instruction. A student struggling with grade-level reading, she explains, might receive targeted coaching on foundational reading skills while continuing to engage with grade-level texts in class. Schools use ongoing student data to identify needs, adjust instruction and determine when a student is ready to exit the program.
“Ultimately, our shared goal is that students experience classroom instruction, intervention and tutoring as one coherent learning experience,” Wible says.
Wible has seen the impact of this approach firsthand. A Catapult analysis of roughly 700 students in kindergarten through third grade across 12 Massachusetts districts found that students made substantial literacy gains after receiving high-impact tutoring, with some making up to five additional months of reading progress.
In one Massachusetts district, the results were especially striking: After just 12 weeks of tutoring, the share of students in kindergarten and first grade performing at or above grade level jumped from 11% to 55%, according to Wible.
Protecting What Works
David Blazar, an associate professor of education policy at the University of Maryland, says the bigger concern may be what happens to program quality when schools can’t find new funding sources and cut spending on tutoring.
Blazar recently co-authored a University of Maryland study of tutoring programs across Maryland’s 24 school districts, examining how districts are designing and scaling their programs. The analysis found that 18 districts offered tutoring with several features associated with stronger implementation, including small-group instruction, frequent sessions and delivery during school hours.
While the research focuses on Maryland, it offers insight into the broader questions districts are facing as they try to sustain tutoring after pandemic relief funding ends. Blazar expects districts to consider increasing group sizes, reducing session frequency or turning to lower-cost providers rather than eliminating tutoring altogether.
“The more likely change is quieter and, in some ways, more consequential: erosion of the design features that make tutoring work,” Blazar says. “When you have to find savings, dosage — and other components of quality, including how many students work with the same tutor simultaneously — are very likely to change.”
Blazar’s analysis of implementation plans under the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future from 2024 to 2027 found that Maryland districts planned to restructure their schedules to keep tutoring going. With tutoring serving as a core mandate of the state’s landmark education policy, he expects Maryland districts to maintain their commitment to the strategy.
“I think they will continue because it is a core part of the Blueprint, and there is growing consensus that tutoring is a critical resource for improving student outcomes, so it is money well spent,” Blazar says.
For districts everywhere trying to stretch limited dollars, the ultimate challenge is figuring out where to trim costs without weakening the core features that make high-impact tutoring effective in the first place, Blazar says.
One District’s Approach
West Feliciana Parish Schools in Louisiana offers an example of a district finding new funding sources to integrate tutoring into the school day. The district had intervention and tutoring practices before 2024, but expanded and formalized its school-day high-dosage tutoring program during the 2024-25 school year with help from state funding available through Louisiana’s Accelerate: High-Dosage Tutoring initiative.
The district created a schoolwide master schedule with a 30- to 50-minute block each day when core instruction stops. During that time, students are divided into skill-based groups and report to their classroom teacher or an interventionist for high-dosage tutoring, according to Jodi Lemoine, director of accountability at West Feliciana Parish Schools.
Students not receiving tutoring remain in the classroom and work independently, using educational software or reading a library book. Fourth and fifth graders received online tutoring through external providers.
The approach significantly expanded the reach of the district’s intervention program. Before the initiative, the reading intervention program served about 96 students a week. Lemoine says that number grew to more than 430 after a year.
“From the get-go, our philosophy was: This is gonna require good teaching, not just programs,” Lemoine says.
The district monitors student progress every two to three weeks and adjusts as necessary. Lemoine points to district assessment data showing gains between the fall and spring assessments of the 2025-26 school year. According to Northwest Evaluation Association’s Measures of Academic Progress data, the district saw notable increases in student performance:
Fourth-grade proficiency in English language arts (ELA) rose from 45% to 63%.
Fifth-grade proficiency in ELA increased from 66% to 70%.
Fifth-grade math proficiency grew from 53% to 67%.
The district was recognized by the Louisiana Department of Education as a Model of Excellence for its approach to high-dosage tutoring. By December 2024, more than 45% of its K-5 students were receiving tutoring (more than twice the number who had received it previously). About 60% reached the benchmark on their targeted literacy skill at the first progress-monitoring checkpoint.
“We have figured out a way to use the resources we have smarter,” Lemoine says. “Our high-dose tutoring program is truly an example of that: Work smarter, not harder.”
The district is relying on a combination of state and local funding to keep the program going, but leadership is committed to sustaining it long-term. Superintendent Hollis Milton says the district’s success shows that tutoring doesn’t have to disappear when a particular funding stream ends.
“If something’s working, you find the will, and then you’re gonna find the way,” Milton says.