Tutoring Services Help Kids in NY, NJ Catch up During Summer
Originally published on the PIX11 website
Tutoring services are seeing a sharp increase in demand as students try to bridge the achievement gap brought on by remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While school is out, some families are using the summer months to help their children catch up.
EBL Coaching offers one-on-one sessions in New York and New Jersey.
“We’ve absolutely seen a rise in the requests for tutoring, mainly because so many kids have these gaps in their learning from having missed so much school,” said Dr. Emily Levy, founder and director of EBL Coaching. “Many kids have missed those critical early foundations of their academic skills.”
EBL sessions, either in-person or virtual, are rooted in multi-sensory techniques.
“A multi-sensory approach means, rather than working out of a workbook, or listening to a teacher, we integrate the visual, the tactile and the auditory modalities simultaneously,” Levy said.
A recent study by Harvard found that in school districts that went remote, achievement growth was lower for all subgroups, but especially for students attending high-poverty schools. Falling behind can also have a devastating effect on a student’s mental health and well-being.
“We found that so many kids, even before the pandemic, had low self-esteem then they had learning difficulties but now even more so,” Levy said.
EBL offers tutoring in both reading and math. They specialize in the multi-sensory method, where all senses are engaged while learning. For instance, instead of writing letters out on paper, students can “sky-write” or write on colored sand.
“Kids enjoy the process because it’s so engaging and it really is highly effective; I would say the most effective way of building core academic skills,” Levy said.
While the multi-sensory approach was first developed for students with ADHD, dyslexia and other learning difficulties, Levy said all children can benefit from this form of instruction, particularly those who need an extra boost this summer before starting the next grade in September.
“I think many parents are now just realizing how much their child struggled, how much they missed, how much they’re struggling now,” Levy said.