What the research shows
| Study | Who | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Italy, online volunteer tutoring during the 2020 lockdown | Middle schoolers, grades 6–8 | One-on-one online tutoring, 3 to 6 hours a week, raised academic performance by 0.26 SD (Carlana and La Ferrara, 2021); the 2024 paper reports math gains from three hours a week of 0.23 SD in the 2020 round and 0.20 SD in 2022 (2024) |
| Chicago Heights, online volunteer tutoring | Grades 6–8 | Two 30-minute sessions a week gave positive but not statistically significant effects: 0.07 SD in math and 0.04 SD in reading (Kraft and others, 2022) |
| Online reading tutoring during the school day | Kindergarten to 2nd grade | 20 minutes, four times a week, raised early literacy by 0.05 to 0.08 SD; 1st graders tutored one-on-one gained 0.20 SD (Robinson and others, 2024) |
| In-person versus remote, randomly assigned | Grades 1–3, summer reading | No significant difference in reading results; children assigned to in-person tutoring attended about 1.5 more sessions (Hashim and others, 2025) |
| Review of tutoring experiments | PreK–12 | Virtual tutoring averaged 0.07 SD across 6 studies against 0.44 SD in person, but the gap wasn't significant once other program features were accounted for (Kraft, Schueler and Falken, 2024) |
Stanford's National Student Support Accelerator says the most rigorous evidence comes from in-person tutoring, and that virtual tutoring can succeed with a live tutor (model dimensions, toolkit). A 2025 study across eight U.S. school systems found virtual tutoring seemed just as effective as in-person (University of Chicago Education Lab). In these studies, in-person tutoring mostly took place at school, so the comparison is mostly school versus screen.
By age
| Age | What to weigh |
|---|---|
| Kindergarten to 2nd grade | Early reading and math use letters, objects and handwriting. The online evidence at this age is small and concentrated in one-on-one sessions, so in person is usually the easier fit. If you choose online, keep sessions short and an adult close by. |
| Grades 3–5 | Either can work. Online works best for a child who can follow on a screen and type or hold work up to the camera. |
| Grades 6–8 | Most of the positive online evidence is from middle schoolers. Online fits busy schedules and work that's already digital, like portals and online homework. |
Practical differences
| In your home | Online | |
|---|---|---|
| Who travels | The tutor | Nobody |
| What you need | A table in a common area, and an adult at home | A device with a camera, a quiet spot and a reliable connection |
| Materials | Paper, manipulatives and the child's own books | Shared screen, digital whiteboard, and work held up to the camera |
| Price with Thousand Acorns Tutoring | $80 an hour, with no travel fee | $80 an hour |
The Stanford center's guide to virtual tutoring recommends planning for technology problems, with buffer time for logging in and an adult available to help (virtual tutoring guide). For young children, that adult is usually a parent in the next room.
Safety rules for each format
Thousand Acorns Tutoring's rules are the same in every home and on every call:
- An adult stays home for in-home sessions.
- Sessions happen in a common area with the door open.
- Online sessions: camera on, with an adult nearby.
The guide to tutor background checks covers what you can verify about any tutor before the first session, and the safety page has the full rules.
Questions parents ask
Does online tutoring work for elementary students?
It can, with smaller effects in the evidence so far. In a randomized trial of online reading tutoring for kindergarten to 2nd grade, 20-minute sessions four times a week raised early literacy by 0.05 to 0.08 SD, with most of the gain among 1st graders tutored one-on-one.
Is in-home tutoring better than online?
No rigorous study found for this guide compares the two directly. In one experiment with 1st to 3rd graders, in-person and remote tutoring produced similar reading results, but children assigned to in-person sessions attended more of them.
Does a parent need to be home for in-home tutoring?
With Thousand Acorns Tutoring, yes: an adult stays home for in-home sessions, and sessions happen in a common area with the door open.
What do online sessions need?
A computer or tablet with a camera, a quiet spot and a working connection. With Thousand Acorns Tutoring, the camera stays on and an adult is nearby.
Sources
- National Student Support Accelerator: tutoring model dimensions, undated. Opened October 13, 2026.
- National Student Support Accelerator toolkit, section 2, undated. Opened October 13, 2026.
- Robinson, Kraft, Loeb and Schueler, Design Principles for Accelerating Student Learning with High-Impact Tutoring (EdResearch for Action brief 30), June 2024. Opened October 13, 2026.
- Carlana and La Ferrara, Apart but Connected (EdWorkingPaper 21-350), February 2021. Opened October 13, 2026.
- Carlana and La Ferrara (NBER working paper 32272), March 2024. Opened October 13, 2026.
- Kraft, List, Livingston and Sadoff, online tutoring by college volunteers (EdWorkingPaper 22-568), April 2022. Opened October 13, 2026.
- Robinson and others, virtual reading tutoring in kindergarten to 2nd grade (EdWorkingPaper 24-955), November 2024. Opened October 13, 2026.
- Hashim and others, in-person versus remote tutoring in CUNY Reading Corps (ERIC), April 2025. Opened October 13, 2026.
- Kraft, Schueler and Falken (EdWorkingPaper 24-1031), October 2024. Opened October 13, 2026.
- University of Chicago Education Lab, Personalized Learning Initiative Interim Report: Findings from 2023–24, June 2025. Opened October 13, 2026.
- National Student Support Accelerator, How Schools Can Build Effective Virtual Tutoring, undated. Opened October 13, 2026.