Short-term gains from Air Tutors tutoring on district benchmark assessments did not persist to statewide math assessments 1 year later¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? The positive short-term effects observed on district benchmark assessments in the 2025 evaluation did not persist through the following spring's statewide math assessments, even among students who received the recommended dosage. → Fong 2026

Evidence¶

Fong 2026¶

Fong, A., Chen-Gaddini, M., & Huang, M. (2026). An Evaluation of the Air Tutors Program: A 1-Year Follow-Up on Math Achievement. WestEd. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED681370

q3 · i? · causal · r2

Long-term follow-up analysis comparing matched treatment and comparison students on spring 2025 statewide assessments found that gains previously observed on district benchmark assessments "did not persist through the following spring’s statewide math assessments". No effect size is printed for the persistence contrast itself.

"These results suggest that the positive short-term effects observed on district benchmark assessments in the 2025 Air Tutors evaluation (Fong et al., 2025) did not persist through the following spring’s statewide math assessments, even among students who received the recommended dosage of Air Tutors tutoring."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Among students receiving at least 24 hours of Air Tutors tutoring, the program showed no significant impact on statewide summative assessments but a positive, statistically significant impact on district benchmark assessments in both districts (effect sizes 0.13 and 0.33) — related
• Among students receiving at least 24 hours of Air Tutors tutoring, no statistically significant long-term effect on statewide math assessments was detected — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• In the full-sample analysis, Air Tutors students performed worse than matched peers on the statewide summative assessment (significant overall and in District B) but showed more benchmark growth in District A and no significant benchmark difference in District B — related
• One year after tutoring, full-sample Air Tutors participation shows no statistically significant impact on statewide math assessment scores — related
• In the prior 2025 evaluation, Air Tutors showed positive short-term benchmark gains at sufficient dosage but negative short-term statewide effects in the full sample — related
• Student participation in Air Tutors varied greatly across districts: 93 percent of District A students met the 24-hour threshold versus 16 percent in District B, where 62 percent received 15 or fewer hours — related