5 Reasons Thousands Of Schools Choose Third Space Learning As Their Tutoring Provider

We believe in the strength of our team, the strength of our model, and the strength of our curriculum. We are always striving to better understand our customers.

Through our conversations with hundreds of educational leaders in our community, we have learned more about what teachers want, taken on feedback, and continue to refine a program that will seamlessly fit into your school’s intervention strategy.

So, why should you choose Third Space Learning as your trusted tutoring provider for math? Let’s dive straight in…

1. Rapport with math at its core: tutors build positive relationships with students where learning is at the forefront

As teachers, you know that building rapport with students is more than just a ‘nice thing’ to do. It enhances student learning. It fosters a positive learning environment where learners are motivated, engaged, and supported. It can also improve student attendance which is essential!

There’s a balance between building rapport, and just chatting. Much like teaching time, tutoring time is critical. Having spoken to hundreds of schools, we know that some Educational Leaders have been worried that other providers focus too much on chatting, leaving less time for learning.

Here at Third Space Learning, we want our students to feel supported, while also getting right into covering math content from the start to make the most out of their dedicated tutoring time.

Unlike other providers, students learn with the same tutor every session. 

Students communicate with their tutors via a headset and a shared screen. Tutors use a range of strategies and features of the online classroom to build that all-important rapport with students, such as praise stickers.

Tutors are also provided with the student’s first name, age, and interests ahead of their first session together so that they can further personalize their individual learning journey. Teachers can also provide notes for the tutor about how best to work with each student and any educational plans (IEP or 504) or English as a Second Language (ESL) requirements.

We are overjoyed when we receive feedback from our students and hear about the positive relationships built through math between tutors and students. Our tutoring boosts confidence in and changes attitudes towards math, which in turn has a real impact on student outcomes.

It is excellent. Students were very engaged and they liked it. I believe the feeling of liking it comes from feeling successful. I listened in on some of the sessions; the tutors were excellent and the students’ conceptual understanding was improving. 

Schipper Clawson, Frontier Middle School, Utah

We recently made a number of improvements to our math tutoring programs. This includes new high-quality gaming headsets (which have been a big hit with students!) that we provide for free to schools.

2. Personalized learning

At Third Space Learning we know that no one knows your students like a teacher does so schools decide which standards each student needs additional practice with each week. 

Each lesson is designed to close learning gaps and address misconceptions and tutors adapt them to fit each student.

Also, after each session, teachers receive a detailed report for each student, showing topics covered, skills practiced and progress made. Reports are available on-demand and can be easily printed to help inform your own class instruction or keep parents up-to-date.

3. Content quality assurance: lessons are centrally created and constantly updated by US mastery experts

Our curriculum is developed by math teachers and pedagogy experts. All of our dedicated Curriculum Team are former teachers with decades of experience in the classroom and current knowledge of evidence-based teaching methods.

They are obsessed with the latest pedagogy and are constantly monitoring and improving our program to ensure it:

• Follows best practice
• Fits with the school environment
• Aligns to different states’ standards
• Allows teachers to easily reinforce teaching strategies used in the classroom
• Uses a wide range of models and images to promote conceptual understanding
• Accelerates students’ progress.

For example, our lessons follow a distinct structure that is grounded in research and promotes articulation, reasoning, and discussion. They are broken down into 4 stages, encouraging students to move from guided to independent practice. The curriculum is broken down into smaller steps, with scaffolded slides, allowing tutors to pitch at the appropriate level for the individual students and their gaps.

We are proud of our high-quality lessons and coherent programs that help thousands of students understand concepts, improve their mathematical thinking and experience a sense of accomplishment

Candida crawford, Third Space Learning Head of Academic Standards and former school teacher

4. Tutor toolkit embedded in pedagogy: tutors receive extended initial training and ongoing CPD

Equally important to the lesson content and design is its delivery.

It’s for this reason that our tutors at Third Space Learning are all high-quality graduates and undergraduates with strong academic backgrounds in STEM subjects. All our tutors have a genuine passion for math and education and undergo rigorous background checks – only 2% of applicants are accepted into the program!

While other providers only require tutors to undergo several hours of training before they begin, the best online tutoring providers will have tutors undergo extensive initial training. Third Space Learning’s tutors must train full-time for 3 weeks before they begin tutoring. The training is designed by our Curriculum Team and centered around US teaching standards and practice. It involves webinars, practice lessons, observations, and coaching sessions.

At the end of the initial training, tutors must pass a series of assessments before delivering their first lesson. If they do not pass, they receive additional guidance and support to ensure they’ve reached the required level before working with students.

While they work with us, they receive ongoing training and CPD – this ongoing provision provides tailored training to tutors at different points in their Third Space Learning journey so that their skills are developing and improving continually. Our training program is constantly evolving and growing to meet changing needs, and tutors are coached regularly on how best to apply any new training to their practice.

We firmly believe in providing quality continuous professional development that helps tutors deliver to the best of their ability. When developing training courses, we keep current teaching methods at the core, building on recent research and evidence-based pedagogical approaches, to ensure that we train passionate and knowledgeable tutors that can make a difference.

Terri Higgins, Training and Development Coordinator and former school teacher

5. In-school specialists: we understand the challenges schools face and how best to support teachers

Over the last 9 years, we’ve supported over 3,800 schools and 150,000 students across schools. Our experience in schools and understanding of the challenges they face means we design tutoring for the realities of school life. 

Time is a precious resource for teachers.

Our Product Team is constantly thinking about how to keep improving the design and structure of our teacher onboarding journey to make set-up even more quick and efficient.

Our Customer Support Team is also on hand to support you from the moment you sign up to sessions. Each school has a dedicated Account Manager who will:

• Guide schools through the onboarding process;
• Troubleshoot any issues that may arise;
• Be on hand to ensure the smooth running of your tutoring sessions.

We know that flexibility is key for schools, and we have designed our tutoring to account for this. Schools choose when and how often they would like the tutoring to take place; time slots are available before, during and after school. They can also choose their preferred session duration.

In addition to our one-on-one tutoring, we provide support to our community of over 100,000 teachers and school leaders through free, high-quality math resources. This helps teachers to raise math achievement for all students in your school, not just those receiving the tutoring. Everybody wins!

The best solution for your school

There’s no one-size-fits-all ‘best’ tutoring option, but we build flexibility with low or high-dosage tutoring, curriculum, and personalization into our programs; from logistics and setup, to the individualized learning journeys our students receive.

This is why hundreds of schools choose to work with Third Space Learning as their math tutoring partner, year after year.

Read more: 9 Tutoring strategies to boost learning

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 UK Content Editor Meriel Willatt and has since been revised and adapted for US schools by math curriculum specialist and former elementary math teacher Christi Kulesza.