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The tutoring company Paper, Inc., says that its approach of outsourced, on-demand tutoring is the only reasonable option for districts to get adequate support to students.

But the company’s service has drawn criticism recently, including a report in Chalkbeat this week that found results lacking in many schools that use it.   And a recent study of student’s use of Paper’s on-demand service at a charter school network in California showed that only 19 percent of students ever used it.

Even so, with schools around the country struggling to make up for the learning loss caused by the pandemic and suffering from teacher shortages, business is booming—including multi-million contracts with school districts across the country, and revenues projected to be somewhere between $500 million and $1 billion.

Some of the company’s skeptics see the situation as an example of the education system’s failure to pressure the edtech industry to make sure their products actually improve learning. 

Paper’s leadership, however, argues that critics aren’t taking student perspectives into account.

Specifically, Paper’s CEO Philip Cutler says that the actual tutoring it offers is effective, and that even the studies coming out don’t dispute that. “In the study, I think the biggest thing is, it's an awareness challenge,” Cutler told EdSurge this week. According to Cutler, on-demand tutoring is what students want, and it works within the district constraints districts have—like staffing shortages. “We're the only ones that can do this at scale,” he argues.

Paper certainly isn’t the only tutoring company to say that on-demand services are valuable. But the differences between on-demand tutoring and other approaches, like high-dose tutoring, aren’t always clear, and that can confuse districts. 

Relying solely on on-demand services can give districts a false sense that they’ve solved the problem, according to Anthony Salcito, who leads Varsity Tutors for Schools, which offers a similar on-demand tutoring service as Paper.

The whole tutoring industry needs to do a better job helping its customers understand the different models, Salcito says. For instance, he says some on-demand services are missing the ability to build relationships between students and tutors. He calls an on-demand offering “a nice complementary solution,” but one that isn’t a complete answer.

📰 HEADLINES

CLEAN SLATE U: A group of MIT professors convened an online gathering this week to brainstorm how to create a new kind of college from scratch to meet the needs of today’s students. Discussion was lively, and at times, surprisingly frank about the need for higher ed to make big changes.

A COMPETITIVE STREAK: The NAEP results revealed a big national decline in math and reading scores. They also caused some jostling for position among states to determine who’d suffered the most learning loss. According to a couple of experts, that’s not an ideal use of the scores.

Sponsored by Endless Network

ON THE GAME TRAIL: As Dennis Bartels of Endless Network explains, “We’re well into the third generation of development of games for learning." In the second installment of a three-part series on the history of game-based learning, he breaks down “a few key moments in the ‘edutainment’ timeline” and speculates on the future of gaming in the classroom.

📢 DEALS

Speak, an AI-based language learning app, raised $27 million. 

Beam, a company that assists students in getting federal financial aid for college, raised $6.4 million in Series A funding.

Prof Jim, an AI text-to-video company that makes textbooks into courses, raised $1.5 million.

First High-School Education Group, an education service provider focused on Western China, was given notice that it’s being delisted from the New York Stock Exchange.

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🎧 ON THE PODCAST

EQUITY AND THE SAT: The SAT can feel very different to different students. While it can give any college applicant stress, some low-income and minority students see it as evidence that selective colleges don't want them. Can the rise of test-optional policies lead to a new, more equitable era of college admissions? This episode, part of our Bootstraps series on who gets what opportunities in education, first ran last December.

🏃 MOVERS AND SHAKERS

A nonprofit that seeks to build inclusivity to students with disabilities into classrooms, The Nora Project, named Jen Newton as strategic program advisor and director of innovation.

The K-12 tutoring platform Braintrust Tutors named Jon Small as chief revenue officer and Eric Hoffman as vice president of sales and marketing.

The learning platform provider Cypher Learning named Jennifer Geisler as chief marketing officer and Matt Kane as chief revenue officer.

👀 ALSO ON OUR RADAR

Universities are teaming up with sports betting companies, making millions while inducing their students to gamble. (The New York Times)

During a UNESCO conference in Uzbekistan, countries pledged to invest a minimum of 10 percent of education spending on early childhood care and education. (UNESCO)

A new initiative, Raise the Bar, is using federal funds to make career training programs more available. (U.S. Department of Education)

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K-12 Manager of Sales | Life is Tech USA, Inc. | Los Angeles, CA or Remote

Life is Tech USA is in search of a full-time Manager of Sales as we expand our K-12 computer science and coding education footprint across the US. The ideal candidate understands the changing K-12 landscape and has experience in edtech.

Product Manager | The Achievement Network | Remote

We are seeking a Product Manager to join our Product team and play a central role in defining, building, evangelizing, and continuously improving ANet's product line in service of educational equity.

Head of Sales | KickUp, Inc. | Philadelphia, PA or Remote

​KickUp is looking for a Head of Sales to join a team that is laser-focused on improving the educator experience by improving the quality of support educators receive.

Director of Operations | nXu Education | Remote 

nXu is seeking a Director of Operations to drive the development and implementation of a range of systems to manage our growth and to ensure continued operational excellence.

Chief Operating Officer | CenterPoint Education Solutions | Washington, DC or Remote

CenterPoint is seeking a visionary Chief Operating Officer (COO) to help grow the organization. Top candidates will be exemplary leaders, have superb business acumen, and have a sound understanding of the education market.

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