Scaling for Success: Hamburg School District’s High-Impact Tutoring Initiative

The big picture: Hamburg School District is expanding its digital high-impact tutoring (HIT) initiative to support K-10th-grade students in both literacy and math, with funding from the LEARNS Act and an innovative new model: outcomes-based contracting.

Zoom in: Through LEARNS, public school districts and open-enrollment public charter schools receive grant funding to provide HIT to eligible K-12 students. However, some districts, particularly in rural regions, don’t have enough educators available to deliver the services.

Context: Embedded into the regular school day, HIT is delivered three times or more per week by the same qualified tutor, individually or in small groups. It consistently produces strong gains in student learning.

Why it matters: Before establishing its digital HIT program, Hamburg struggled with reading growth, with only a third of students in grades 3-10 on grade level, compared to 40% statewide.

The impact: With support from its online providers, 25% of Hamburg’s K-10 students benefit from HIT services. On 2024-2025 mid-year assessments, 80% of participating students demonstrated an average increase of 62 points in math, and 84% experienced an average increase of 92 points in reading.

What’s next: Hamburg is laying the groundwork for continuous improvement by ensuring its HIT program remains aligned with classroom instruction and protecting tutoring time to avoid potential conflicts with Tier 1 instruction.