LOUISIANA EXPANDS TUTORING OPTIONS FOR K-12 STUDENTS

(BATON ROUGE, LA) - The Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) is expanding tutoring options available to students who need additional support in reading and math. Families can now apply for $1500 digital tutoring vouchers as part of a broadened Steve Carter Tutoring Program. Named after late Baton Rouge State Representative Steve Carter, the program now includes more students, subjects, and increased amounts for families and tutors.

"Every student deserves access to additional academic support," said Louisiana State Superintendent of Education Dr. Cade Brumley. "Consistent, high-quality tutoring is proven to close learning gaps and put students back a path to success."

The Steve Carter Tutoring Program provides $1,500 vouchers to families of eligible K-12 public school students. The digital vouchers can be used to purchase high-quality literacy and math tutoring. Now in its second year of existence, the program previously offered $1,000 digital vouchers, was limited to K-5 public school students, and only included literacy.

Families can register or learn more on the online portal or by visiting tutor.la.gov. Eligible families will select a high-quality tutoring provider through the parent portal. All tutors have been approved by the LDOE. Tutoring options are available virtually or in-person.

The Steve Carter Tutoring Program is part of Louisiana's statewide tutoring initiative, which includes high-quality tutoring options for students during the school day and outside of the school day. While the Steve Carter program provides options outside the school day, Louisiana's new Accelerate: High-Dosage Tutoring program provides additional support to K-5 students during the school day.

Accelerate High-Dosage Tutoring offers high-dosage tutoring for eligible students in grades K-5. School systems can choose approved providers for this initiative and will engage directly with providers to offer tutoring services.

In an effort to continue to recruit high-quality tutors to the Steve Carter program, the hourly rate for providers has been increased from $40/hour to $60/hour for individual sessions. There are currently 88 tutoring providers available in the Steve Carter program that have been approved by the LDOE to offer services to eligible students, virtually or in-person, and the LDOE is committed to continuing to grow that number.

In an effort to recruit more teachers to become tutors, the LDOE has made changes to the approval process and shared this opportunity with educators during professional development events.

The LDOE has distributed information to school systems leading up to the start of school and school leaders are required to inform parents/guardians if their child qualifies for the Steve Carter Tutoring Program. A statewide digital media campaign targeting eligible families is slated to begin in September.

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