Education may be one of the most effective ways to change the world—but how do you change education?
It’s not so clear. Researchers have long studied ways to improve education—what social scientists would call “interventions”—yet few interventions seem to truly make a dent. Things you think would work, like reducing class size or introducing summer school, often have marginal impact at best. Yet there is one intervention that consistently nets out at the top. Study after study, it’s shown to be incredibly effective in improving student outcomes.
In the world of education, where consensus can be hard to find, this is one area where just about everyone agrees - Tutoring.
The idea behind tutoring is simple: pair students with well-trained tutors and provide them with the individualized support they need. Educators have known this ever since Benjamin Bloom’s famous 1984 2 sigma study found that the students who received individual tutoring in a mastery-based class, on average, performed better than 98% of those who were taught in a traditional, lecture-style class.
A key lever for improving the education system now becomes increasing the supply of well-trained tutors in the world. And those could be the students themselves. The benefits are many:
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The students who need help (“the learners”) receive the individualized support and human touch they couldn’t find in their larger classrooms.
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The students who become peer tutors (“the tutors”) reach the highest level of mastery in their own education by teaching others. As anyone who has ever tried to teach something knows, the best way to learn is to teach.
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The learners receive help from someone who may have very recently gone through the same frustrations as themselves. That empathy is invaluable.
You can help be a schoolhouse.world tutor too (click on the button to the right).
Courtesy: schoolhouse.world.
