Virtual, in school
Students join from a classroom, library, or lab during the school day, with headphones and a school device, while a school staff member is nearby. This is the strongest option for attendance and dosage.
How it works
Built around dosage, consistency, and evidence.
High-impact tutoring works because of its structure: enough time, small enough groups, the same tutor, and content tied to what students are learning in class. Here is how ours is put together.
Dosage & ratio
Enough time, in small enough groups.
Tutoring that is occasional or optional rarely moves achievement. The research is consistent: gains come from frequent sessions, small groups, and a full cycle with the same tutor. Our minimums match the NYC Public Schools HIT standards, and we report against them.
Schools choose the weekly pattern that fits their schedule. Each option below meets the standard.
| Frequency | At least 3 sessions per week |
|---|---|
| Session length | 30–45 minutes |
| Weekly total | At least 90 minutes per student |
| Ratio | 1:1 to 1:4, never larger |
| Cycle | 10–12 weeks, with the same tutor throughout |
| Sample patterns | 3 × 30 min (90) · 4 × 30 min (120) · 3 × 45 min (135) |
Delivery
Live, synchronous, cameras on. Online or hybrid.
Every minute of tutoring is taught by a live adult. Nothing is self-paced or pre-recorded.
Virtual, before or after school
The same live sessions, scheduled outside the school day, from school or home. We work with your team on attendance supports, since after-school tutoring succeeds or fails on consistency.
Hybrid
Some sessions are in person at your school and the rest are online, with the same tutor and the same group. Available where tutor availability and space allow.
In the online classroom.Live video, a shared whiteboard and workspace, and each student’s work visible to the tutor in real time. Cameras on is the norm, with accommodations the school approves.
Privacy by default.Sessions are not recorded. We use a video platform that meets NYCPS privacy and security requirements, or your school’s own platform if you prefer.
A session
Thirty minutes, and none of it idle.
Every session follows the same structure, so students know what to expect and no time is spent on setup. Longer sessions add practice time; the order stays the same.
The structure itself teaches. Starting with retrieval and ending with an unaided exit ticket are the habits Mental Arts explains, so students practice them every session.
- 0:00–0:05
Retrieval warm-up
Quick, low-stakes recall of the last session’s skill, plus one or two items from earlier weeks. Students answer from memory first, then check.
- 0:05–0:12
Explicit instruction
One targeted skill, modeled step by step in the same language and representations students see in class. Once a week this block is the Mental Arts lesson, taught on the same content.
- 0:12–0:24
Guided, then independent practice
Every student responds, not only the quickest. The tutor gives immediate feedback and steps back as accuracy rises.
- 0:24–0:28
Exit ticket
Two or three items done without help, scored the same day. Results set the next session’s plan.
- 0:28–0:30
Close and plan
What we’ll revisit and when. Students leave knowing what they’ve mastered and what comes next.
Integration
Designed to supplement your curriculum, not compete with it.
Tutoring works best when it strengthens what students are already learning. Our tutors work from your scope and sequence. They preview upcoming content, reteach what didn’t stick, and use the same vocabulary, models, and representations as your classrooms.
Within NYCPS’s Multi-Tiered System of Supports, we are a Tier II supplemental support: extra practice and skill-building for students who are close to grade level. We do not replace core instruction, and we help your team identify students who need more intensive help from certified teachers or interventionists instead.
- Aligned to your core curriculum, including NYC Reads and NYC Solves materials where you use them
- Coordinated with classroom teachers through your HIT lead, with no extra meetings for teachers
- Responsive to accommodations and language supports your school shares with us
- Scheduled as pull-out, push-in, or before or after school, whichever your team chooses
- Supplemental: never a replacement for classroom instruction or IEP-mandated services
Mental Arts
A short add-on that improves how students learn everything else.
Most students have never been taught how memory and understanding work. Mental Arts teaches them, in small doses, using the same content they are tutored in. It is the most distinctive part of our program and the smallest in time.
Every session
Built in
Each session opens with retrieval and closes with a spaced review plan. Students practice the techniques before they learn their names.
Once a week
Taught explicitly
About ten minutes a week names a technique, explains why it works, and has students use it on that week’s content.
Optional
Standalone module
A six-session skill-building module schools can add for a grade team, advisory, or a group preparing for Regents exams.
Always
On the real content
Never study tips in the abstract. Every technique is practiced on literacy or math, so it never takes time away from either.
Topics: knowing what you know · note-making · retrieval practice · spaced review · memory techniques · deliberate practice
Mental Arts in detail →Tutors
Trained, cleared, coached, and consistent.
Tutors don’t have to be certified teachers to be effective. Studies of trained paraprofessional tutors show strong results. What matters is content knowledge, a structured model, real training, and ongoing coaching. We recruit tutors with strong backgrounds in literacy or math. They are paid, and they stay with their groups for the full cycle.
- NYCPS clearance first. Fingerprinting and background check, with eligibility confirmed in PETS, before any contact with students
- Pre-service training in our session model, the grade-band curriculum, building relationships, data collection, and student privacy
- Safeguarding: mandated-reporter obligations and NYCPS policies for student safety and online conduct
- Observed and coached: within the first two weeks of every cycle, then at least monthly
- Consistent: one tutor per group for the whole cycle, with a trained backup known to the group