Arkansas Tutoring Project
Arkansas Tutoring Project
Tutoring, long recognized as an effective strategy for boosting academic achievement, surged in popularity after the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024, after an initial pilot year, Arkansas launched the High-Impact Tutoring (HIT) Program, which provided schools with funding for tutoring initiatives. CEPR has partnered with the Arkansas Department of Education to evaluate the effectiveness of virtual and in-person high-dosage tutoring providers in elementary and middle schools across the state.
Focusing on math and literacy, the project conducted three randomized-controlled trials across four districts including 2,728 students. Findings from these studies will contribute to the overall body of rigorous research examining the impacts of tutoring and implementation, and include a cost-effectiveness analysis to help practitioners and providers make informed decisions to effectively support students’ academic success.
Does BookNook Virtual Tutoring Improve Student ELA Achievement?
From 2024–2025, CEPR partnered with two Arkansas districts to conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of virtual BookNook ELA tutoring. The study ultimately did not detect impacts on ELA achievement, math achievement, or student attendance. However, the findings offer important insights into how implementation affects the ability to deliver intended tutoring dosages, as well as the cost implications of the different implementation strategies used in each of the districts.
Spotlight: You Get What You Pay For in Tutoring Implementation
This Accelerate blog highlights CEPR's randomized controlled trial of BookNook tutoring that paired rigorous impact evaluation with detailed cost and implementation data. Using Accelerate’s ingredients-based cost tool, the study shows how seemingly similar programs can vary more than threefold in per-pupil cost and deliver very different tutoring dosages—despite producing overall null impacts on test scores. By unpacking how staffing, leadership time, and implementation choices drive both costs and dosage, the piece illustrates why transparent cost analysis should be standard practice in tutoring research and decision-making, not an optional add-on.
Meet the Arkansas Tutoring Project Team
Micaela Keating Sharp
Atsuko Muroga
Kellie Solowski
kellie_solowski@gse.harvard.edu