The High-Impact Tutoring Micro-Credential will serve as a measurement for tutor skill and help reinforce a national tutoring standard.
LOS ANGELES – A coalition of education organizations unveiled a micro-credential for tutors designed to indicate competency while expanding tutoring best practices to ultimately improve student outcomes.
Annenberg Learner, Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, and Step Up Tutoring debuted the micro-credential this month, opening applications to experienced tutors at partner organizations.
Drawing on standards from Stanford University’s National Student Success Accelerator and ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, the credential serves as an indication of a tutors’ ability to provide equity-centered, data-driven instruction to students and allow tutors to distinguish their level of experience and abilities.
“We are excited to offer this high-impact tutoring micro-credential as an opportunity for tutors to critically reflect on their practice and demonstrate the ways in which they support rigorous instruction while building authentic relationships with young people,” said Korbi Adams, Senior Program Manager of Community Educator Initiatives at ASU. “Earning this micro-credential honors the expertise of tutors who help drive equity in education by creating positive learning environments that enable all students to thrive.”
The micro-credential was piloted by tutors from Step Up Tutoring and their feedback helped strengthen the curriculum.
“The micro-credential has been especially valuable for me as I think about my future,” said Nikita Dutt, a math tutor at Step Up Tutoring. “Tutoring was something I enjoyed as a work study opportunity, but the experience increased my interest in pursuing a career in education, in addition to sharpening my skills as a high-impact tutor.”
High-impact tutoring continues to be one of the most effective ways to help students bridge gaps in learning. The micro-credential aims to help tutoring providers invest and expand their resources to reach more students.
Many tutoring programs have indicated that they will use the credential to elevate tutors to a higher level of pay, incentivizing their continued service.
“We’ve seen many of our tutors use the micro-credential as a launching pad while strengthening their understanding of what it means to provide quality, engaging instruction to students,” said Sam Olivieri, CEO of Step Up Tutoring. “Step Up has seen great success hiring college students to serve as tutors and this micro-credential offers them a next step to advance their career or boost their experience while continuing to provide culturally-competent and valuable instruction to students.
The high-impact tutoring micro-credential is the latest offering from the education coalition, which released a high-impact tutor training program earlier this year to help tutoring programs boost their pool of qualified tutors – more than 2,500 tutors have enrolled in the training to date.
“Our goal with the micro-credential is to expand the pipeline of highly-qualified tutors so that all students, regardless of where they live, can access personalized attention and exceptional instruction,” said Nati Rodriguez, Program Director for Annenberg Learner. “This certification will signal tutors’ competency while ensuring more uniform standards across tutoring programs.”
