Tutoring services help to improve student achievement in Illinois district

Before partnering with Kelly Education, North Shore School District 112 had been using tutoring services to address learning gaps. However, when the pandemic hit, the Highland Park, Illinois, school system decided to switch providers to better meet the needs of its elementary students.

“We wanted to give our younger students extra support early on as they continued to learn and grow,” says Niki Scofield, coordinator for teaching and learning for the district.

Scofield says that the district chose Kelly Education because their tutors would be working with the district’s curriculum and assessments, and students would be able to interact live with tutors. As of October, more than 200 students from the district’s seven elementary schools were participating in live, scheduled Microsoft Teams meetings with tutors provided by Kelly Education. In grades 1 and 2, one tutor is paired with two students. The ratio increases to one for every three students in grades 3 through 5.

Using district curriculum and tailoring feedback

District leaders leapt at the chance of working with Kelly Education when they discovered tutors could work with their district’s curriculum. Scofield only had to provide tutors with workbooks in PDF format. “It’s great that Kelly Education tutors are reinforcing the skills that teachers are using in the classroom,” she says. “That gives our kids a second dose of these critical concepts.”

Scofield can also tailor both the frequency and the types of feedback she wants to receive from Kelly Education tutors, including what information provided by tutors is most useful. For example, Scofield has tutors specify what pages students have completed, where they have experienced growth, and what areas need additional support.

“Having the ability to tailor feedback is unique to Kelly Education. A lot of services don’t provide that option, even though it ensures our students are getting the most they can out of their tutoring sessions,” says Scofield. “It’s helpful to have more voice and choice in how we want this done.”

Exceptional customer service

In addition to students interacting live with tutors on Microsoft Teams, Scofield especially appreciates the customer service she receives from her personal team, including Kelly Education representative Brittany Kilbury. “Brittany and I are now best friends. We email numerous times per day,” she says. “She is very accessible and always available.”

As a result, managing and rescheduling sessions as needed is quite seamless. “If we are going to miss a session, we just let them know and it’s not an issue,” says Scofield. Technical problems are also handled immediately. “The fact that I get answers to all of my questions very quickly has been so important to the partnership.”

In addition to regular email communication, Scofield meets with the Kelly Education team weekly or biweekly to check in and to identify any unresolved issues. “Their customer service has been outstanding,” she says.

Improved scores and “graduations” within a short time period

Since North Shore launched Kelly Education Tutoring Solutions, the district has seen a great deal of improvement. In just eight weeks, 118 of the 229 students have exited the tutoring program after their scores increased to above the 55th percentile on their NWEA MAP assessment.

“We were thrilled with these results,” says Scofield. “We are excited to see more data after the second round of the Kelly Education Tutoring Solutions program, to see how much our students improved.”