Pandemic leads to demand for tutors as school year resumes
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — Tutors are in demand as parents and teachers worry about a 'learning gap' over the past 18 months of the coronavirus pandemic. Demand for tutoring is likely to remain high during the school year.
“This was a very traumatic event for a lot of people,” said Shree Luitel, a tutor with the Educational Service Center of Central Ohio. “I doubt [students] are going to snap back into place as if nothing happened.”
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Luitel said the pandemic has affected students in various ways -- some have difficulty with instruction and some have issues with social interaction. “I’ve noticed that a lot of people don’t make eye contact [during tutoring sessions,]” she said, “especially, little kids.”
The state department of education reports that more students in kindergarten struggled last year. Under the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment evaluation, nearly half of all students (47.6%) were deemed "not on track" when it came to language and literacy. In 2019, that number was only 39.7%.
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For students in Columbus City Schools, the district is implanting a new tutoring approach with an online program called “Paper.”
“There is a learning loss,” said Kenton Lee, the Executive Director of Accelerated and Extended Learning at CCS. “We see ‘Paper’ as one of many solutions to fill those gaps.”
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Paper allows all CCS middle and high school students to work with an online tutor 24/7 and the process is simple: The student types in a question and the tutor on the other end helps the student discover the answer. Paper has tutors knowledgeable in more than 200 subjects.
Students in the Columbus City Schools district start school on Thursday, August 26.
