This article was originally published April 2021. We have updated the content and provided additional suggestions.
Educators traditionally work with students, teachers, and families to identify the best ways to support students’ academic growth throughout the school year.
At Possip, we hear a recurring theme that families desire explicit academic support at school AND at home.
- “cần sự giúp đỡ của nhà trường thêm để chỉ dẫn và trao dồi cho cháu được tốt hơn” Translation: “I need more help from the school to guide and educate my child better”
- “When will there be Math tutoring?”
- “[We need] More resources for tutoring and update on progress of tutoring”
- “Necesita ayuda para mejorar sus grados” Translation: “Need help to improve your grades”
- “[I’d like to see] academic support for those below grade level. Teachers adequately providing instruction to promote student growth and decrease failure. Consistency in homework assignments. Homework assignments are off and on which leaves parents wondering if there are any assignments throughout the week.”
- “How can I help my child improve his grades?”
Here are some tips on how to help support students’ academic growth:
Publish Tutoring Information
Schools can share tutoring information and make a one-on-one or small group academic support plan that is sustainable for teachers and helpful for students. If you are interested in diving deeper into what it could look like to create a tutoring program at your school, check out this blog from Possip to learn more about that process.
If you already have a tutoring program at your school, publish the schedule in a variety of ways. This can be on social media, your website, newsletters, through Possip, etc. You can also clearly communicate the specific topics or objectives listed for tutoring sessions. This way students and families know what will be discussed and help inform if they should attend. This not only helps families, but also helps teachers understand what types of things can be covered during tutoring and can serve as clarity for their planning purposes. Additionally, it will increase the intentionality behind tutoring and allow students who really have that knowledge gap to get support.
You don’t have to limit tutoring to just teacher-led sessions! Encourage upper-grade students to create study groups to find a sense of community and a source of peer support!
Provide Frequent Student Feedback
Give students feedback regularly (daily if possible) using tangible checkpoints like high-quality homework, exams, and independent practice classwork. Try aggressive monitoring and send homework with feedback on it so families can see.
Coordinate Due Dates
Coordinate timing of assignment due dates to support student success. Consider a hub of information where teachers can see what is being assigned in other classes. Encourage students to reach out to teachers if they’re feeling overwhelmed. Teach them to advocate for themselves and discuss possible solutions such as deadline extensions. Schools can even plan study hall time that would allow students a dedicated space to begin their work and get support as needed.
Provide Supplemental Resources
Provide helpful resources such as Khan Academy, IXL, BrainPOP, NearPod, and MobyMax. These resources are not only helpful for students, but also helpful for families to use at home to reinforce learnings and have meaningful conversations about what is being taught at school.
Create Your Own Study Guides and Explanations
Teachers can create recordings to send home that go over questions/problems that can be posted after assignments are received. This is a great resource that students can use to understand why their answer was wrong and how to get the correct answer.
Teachers can also create exemplar work to show families the new process, concept, or idea their student is practicing. Send home the explanation at the beginning of a new unit or before an assessment to help parents reinforce the skills taught in class.
Ask Students
Ask students what would help with their academic growth! Teaching students to self monitor their understanding and advocate for what they need is an important life skill. Teachers and schools can go straight to the source and check-in on what would best support each student. Schools can give out student surveys in class and see what they need. They can even send out a Possip text that uses a bonus question to gather this data. Students hold a lot of the answers to our big questions as educators. Make sure to utilize their thoughts and insights to meet their own needs.
