Set the bar high for disadvantaged students
'High dosage tutoring' eliminates delays in mathematics education with intensive tutoring. “Not many interventions make such a big difference.”
Indri Kromojahjo has been a tutor for several months. She previously worked in healthcare. To become a tutor, she had to pass a math test and followed training from The Bridge. Image Fred van Diem
It is still pitch dark outside. Behind the windows of the Onze Wereld primary school, there is inviting light everywhere. It is eight o'clock. In a room that is also a library, coordinator Lieselot Roelandts is busy moving tables and chairs into the permanent arrangement. In the meantime, tutors unpack their bags and, with a cup of coffee on the corner of the table, organize the things for the lesson. There is an atmosphere of homeliness. But also concentration. Something most teachers will recognize from just before the start of the first lesson of the day. The big difference is that there are six 'teachers' ready in this room. A bundled concentration.
It's about relationships, relationships and relationships
The program includes a High dosage tutoring (Hdt) lesson. Twelve group 7 students will immediately receive math tutoring from six tutors. Tutors are not official teachers, but specialists who are trained in arithmetic and in patience and attention. The students who receive a Hdt lesson score below the national arithmetic average. With two, three or ideally even five lessons per week, a high dose of tutoring is required, so they can improve their skills. One tutor guides two students. The students practice aloud with (story) sums and are simultaneously showered with compliments. The tutor also has three-weekly contact with the parents or guardians to discuss questions and possible problems.
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The secret of this intervention method lies in that mix, says sociologist Bowen Paulle. He is director of The Bridge Learning Interventions foundation. Paulle is American and he brought Hdt to the Netherlands. It is now taught at 25 schools, both in upper primary education and in lower secondary education. “This intervention is about relationships, relationships and relationships,” he says. According to him, HDT is both a cognitive and a social-emotional intervention. Both skills improve. “In a class with one teacher and 25 students, it is difficult to achieve the same thing. We train our tutors in building a bond with the students. That is part of the culture of The Bridge. That is really not something that just happens automatically.”
You can learn to concentrate
The students come in cheerfully this morning, it is pajama day. Giggling, they look at each other from head to toe. Bacon pink and blue onesies color the classroom. Every Hdt lesson has the same structure. The students know exactly where they stand when Lieselot Roelandts, after welcoming everyone, taps a singing bowl.
Roelandts is coordinator of The Bridge. “Bring your breath to your stomach,” she says. By this she doesn't mean anything vague, but rather something very practical: you can learn concentration, just like you can learn arithmetic. Immediately after the concentration exercise, the tutors slide an erasable board with a few sums on it in the direction of their two students. Nothing needs to be said. Everyone knows: three minutes to solve the sums. With their tongues out of their mouths, they silently start that sprint. It's like a game. Until the alarm goes off.
Coordinator Lieselot Roelandts ensures that students know exactly where they stand. Every Hdt lesson has the same structure.
This school year, almost four hundred schools in primary and secondary education are involved in large-scale effect research of interventions, spread over fourteen projects. The interventions are intended to help children who have had fewer opportunities to develop. The intention is to increase equality of opportunity.
HDT is one of those interventions. The gist of it is that the tutor stays with the same math material until the student really understands it. Only then will tutor and student move to the next step. Paulle: “Slowly but surely the penny is falling on the student. They start to understand: I wasn't stupid at all. I was ignorant and I can become knowledgeable. When children can't keep up in class, they start to doubt themselves and become frustrated. They start making noise, making jokes or becoming depressed.”
According to Paulle, this form of tutoring can provide a breakthrough. Socially vulnerable students are making leaps and bounds. “It's not just I got a dream,” he says. By showing children in group 7, a crucial phase in the development of students and during their school career: hey, you can make progress, they sometimes receive higher school advice, he says. “Their confidence is increasing. They realize that school can do something for them, they realize that they don't have to look at street culture. It can positively influence the life chances of vulnerable students.”
Room for a joke
Jurgen Tijms is a sociologist at the University of Amsterdam. Over the past three years, his team has conducted research into Hdt at schools in Amsterdam-Zuidoost, including Onze Wereld. Half of a group of weak mathematicians received Hdt, and the other half, the control group, did not. “Children with HDT make significantly more progress in arithmetic than children without it. Not many interventions make such a big difference,” he says. South-East has more children with educational disadvantages than other parts of Amsterdam. The results show that the educational deficit can be eliminated with Hdt five times a week, according to Tijms. The research also shows that students who receive HDT two or three times a week do not make the same giant leap as children who receive tutoring five times a week, but still make significant progress. “The next step is that we follow children for a longer period of time,” says Tijms. “We want to map out whether Hdt has an effect on achieving a higher level of education and whether students can maintain it.”
After the concentration exercise and the three minutes to solve some sums, it is time to discuss the exercise, for explanation and relaxation. A joke is made about someone's large shoe size. Tutor Indri Kromojahjo: “I accidentally kicked my student's shoe and we both dived under the table at the same time. I am easily distracted myself. I recognize that in the students.” The fact that there is room for a joke makes it easy for them to return to work in a relaxed manner, says Kromojahjo. She has been a tutor for several months. She previously worked in healthcare. “I've wanted to work in education for some time, but I don't have the right diploma and I didn't want to do another long training first. It makes me really happy when I see children making progress.” To become a tutor, Kromojahjo had to pass a math test and she followed training from The Bridge.
Slowly but surely the penny drops with the student
A disadvantage of Hdt is the price tag. It is expensive. High dosage says it all: a high dose shows the most progress. But what school can have six tutors come in for one hour, five days a week? The municipality of Amsterdam has pledged to provide subsidies again over the next two years to schools where the deficits are greatest. Education councilor Marjolein Moorman of Amsterdam has seen that Hdt works. “It gives students self-confidence and learning pleasure. High dosage tutoring shows that it is good to set the bar high for students who are behind."
Bowen Paulle: “It pays for itself for society. We expect that Hdt students will find work more often, that the chance that they will come into contact with the law will decrease and that their health will improve. But if you are a director of a school and you have to pay for it up front, you can say very bluntly: What is the benefit to me if these children come into contact with the law less often in ten years' time? That is why we must tackle it together: school boards, municipalities, ministry of education, justice, health care and parents together.”
The lesson is a place of rest
Sherin and Loraisho are now sitting at their table at Indri Kromojahjo, beaming with pride. “For me, Hdt is a place of rest,” says eleven-year-old Loraisho. “It's good to be able to charge extra,” says ten-year-old Sherin. Loraisho: “Today I solved the sum to divide 96 sandwiches among 6 tutors.” He laughs: “How much does each tutor get?”
