7 Benefits Of One-on-One Tutoring Every School And District Leader Should Know

One-on-one tutoring has incredible benefits for students. It can cater to each student’s needs and help them reach their full potential and academic success. And, it can also build student confidence and self-esteem on a subject matter, which is paramount.

This guide is designed to give school and district leaders a better understanding of the benefits of one-on-one tutoring and why you should implement it to improve academic performance and enhance students’ learning experience.

What is one-on-one tutoring?

One-on-one tutoring is typically a tutoring program with one tutor for every student. A one-to-one tutor only works with one student at a time. This helps meet the student’s individual learning needs and provides them with personalized instruction to accelerate academic progress.

Often, schools use one-on-one tutoring for core subjects, such as English or math. The tutoring strategies and learning strategies tutors use are often the same as the teaching methods in a traditional classroom setting. But personalized attention for individual students means the tutor can meet the student’s specific needs and areas of development.

One-on-one tutoring can take place in person or online. Both aim to accelerate a student’s progress and provide them with a deeper understanding of the standards they need extra help with and close learning gaps.

In person one-on-one tutoring

In person tutoring is when the tutor meets the student at the school or local library. They may spend some time talking to the teacher and student before and after the lesson, to discuss progress and performance but you are unlikely to receive formal reports for the student after each session unless requested.

While learning is personalized for each student, the tutor can only work with one student at a time for this to truly be one-on-one tutoring. Hiring multiple in person one-on-one tutors can be costly for a school or district.

Online one-to-one tutoring

Online one-to-one tutoring usually takes place through interactive software. Sophisticated tutoring organizations will use a custom-made interactive classroom with specific tools and lesson slides.

Using one-on-one online lessons means multiple students experience the benefits of tutoring simultaneously. Many students can log on to an online platform to interact with tutors at the same time. Often this is more affordable than in person one-on-one tutoring and more beneficial than in person group tutoring.

What are the benefits of one-on-one tutoring?

Choosing to hire a one-on-one maths tutor is a decision that may take some consideration. But, ultimately, the results and benefits of one-on-one tutoring speak for themselves.

1. Individual attention from a one-on-one tutor

Undivided attention for each student is one of the biggest benefits of one-on-one tutoring.

Every educator has a few students in their class that they wish they could give undivided attention to because they would make incredible progress. But, in a class of 25-30 students, this isn’t possible.

One-on-one high impact tutoring helps students receive the time and attention they need to develop good study skills and understand the lesson concepts and standards to keep up in class and reach proficiency.

2. Personalized learning plans

One-on-one tutoring allows for individualized learning plans tailored to each student’s academic needs, learning style, and pace. 

This personalization ensures that students focus on the standards they need the most improvement, accelerating progress. 

Additionally, one-on-one tutoring sessions mean tutors can adapt the level, pace and instructional strategies to suit the student’s strengths, weaknesses, and preferred learning modalities to create a deeper understanding and mastery.

3. Reduced learning gaps

One-on-one high dosage tutoring provides targeted instruction, which helps close students’ learning gaps in addition to the support they receive in the classroom setting. 

With personalized tutoring, specific learning gaps can be addressed immediately helping students accelerate learning and reach grade-level proficiency. 

Highly trained tutors can spend time re-teaching foundational concepts that students may have missed and do not have time to do in class, preventing those learning gaps from widening. 

Consistent one-on-one support helps students catch up to their peers and improves their overall academic performance.

4. Immediate feedback

Feedback during one-on-one tutoring is immediate and personalized. In class, when teachers have 25-30 students, individual feedback isn’t usually immediate and, if it is whole class feedback, it certainly isn’t personalized.

With a one-on-one tutor, students receive immediate feedback to help personalize the learning process. Students can action feedback in the same session, helping them make connections to the process the next time they tackle a similar question.

Established tutoring programs such as Third Space Learning offer free resources to support students’ progress. With a full lesson report provided to schools after each session for every student, schools and teachers can provide students with the appropriate worksheets or quizzes to practice according to the session feedback.

5. Builds confidence

Students need to feel comfortable in their learning environment to participate and engage in learning. For students with anxiety, particularly math anxiety, this isn’t always the case.

A one-on-one environment through in person or online tutoring with a highly-trained tutor creates a low-stakes environment for the student. They are more likely to share their problem solving skills and critical thinking if they aren’t worried about getting an incorrect answer.

One-on-one tutoring provides a safe, relaxed space to learn in, where they might feel comfortable making mistakes. And it’s important to make mistakes – most of our learning doesn’t come from getting an answer right; we learn by getting something wrong and working out why that happened. 

One-to-one tutoring also gives nervous or shy learners a chance to practice answering questions outside the classroom. This helps boost their confidence; they might even start giving answers in class!

6. Flexible scheduling

One-on-one tutoring sessions offer the flexibility to schedule the sessions around a student’s busy lifestyle, particularly when sessions are online. 

Flexible scheduling allows tutoring to be integrated at times that are most productive and least disruptive for students, whether it’s early morning or late afternoon. 

With Third Space Learning, you can change your lesson time, increase or decrease the dosage each week or even request a new tutor if the relationship isn’t working effectively. 

Such flexible scheduling also reduces the risk of students missing whole class instruction for the same subject each week, enhancing accessibility to learning.

7. One to one tutoring is better value-for-money 

At first, one-on-one tutoring can seem like the more expensive option. But, a benefit of one-on-one tutoring is cost efficiency. 

Individual tutoring accelerates a student’s progress beyond classroom teaching and even small group tutoring because of the extra time and attention invested in each student’s learning. 

Schools and districts have many funding options when it comes to one-on-one tutoring, including ESSA funding and Title 1 funding. 

Third Space Learning believes that one-on-one math tutoring should be available to all students to help accelerate progress and close the math achievement gap. For that reason, we keep prices low to help as many students as possible.

One to one tutoring has many benefits

One to one tutoring is the most effective way to target students in need of intervention outside of a classroom setting.  

The benefits of one-on-one tutoring are abundant.  It individualizes and targets instruction to close learning gaps and accelerate progress, provide immediate feedback, build learners’ confidence, and create good study habits and study skill

How can Third Space Learning support one-on-one math tutoring?

For over a decade, Third Space Learning has provided one-on-one math tutoring to disadvantaged students. Schools choose which students need additional math support and schedule sessions to suit your students and school.

Because you know your students best you pick from our selection of standards-aligned learning pathways created by math experts to meet the individual needs of each student.  

Online one-on-one tutoring means schools and districts can support multiple students simultaneously without adding to teachers’ workload.

Benefits of one-to-one tutoring FAQs

Why is 1 on 1 tutoring good?

One-on-one tutoring services are highly effective because they provide personalized, targeted instruction tailored to each student’s specific needs. This approach to individual learning helps students progress at their own pace, address specific learning gaps, and achieve better academic outcomes.

What is the benefit of one-on-one teaching?

The benefits of one-on-one tutoring and teaching lie in the ability to offer customized learning experiences that can adapt to the learning styles of each student. Students who may otherwise struggle in a traditional classroom can receive the focused attention they need to succeed.

What are the benefits of one-to-one support?

One-to-one support ensures students receive individualized help in real time, allowing immediate feedback. This focused, targeted support helps close learning gaps more effectively than generalized classroom instruction.

Do you have students who need extra support in math?
Give your students more opportunities to consolidate learning and practice skills through personalized math tutoring with their own dedicated online math tutor.

Each student receives differentiated instruction designed to close their individual learning gaps, and scaffolded learning ensures every student learns at the right pace. Lessons are aligned with your state’s standards and assessments, plus you’ll receive regular reports every step of the way.

Personalized one-on-one math tutoring programs are available for:
– 2nd grade tutoring
– 3rd grade tutoring
– 4th grade tutoring
– 5th grade tutoring
– 6th grade tutoring
– 7th grade tutoring
– 8th grade tutoring

Why not learn more about how it works?

The content in this article was originally written by former primary school teacher and Third Space Learning SEO and Content Editor, Charlotte Howe, and has since been revised and adapted for US schools by elementary math teacher Jen Martins.