The University of Chicago Education Lab has announced $18 million in funding to support a multiyear research project to determine how the nation’s schools can close student achievement gaps and overcome pandemic-era learning losses.

With gifts from America Achieves, Citadel founder and CEO Ken Griffin, and Arnold Ventures, the lab will support high-dosage tutoring—at least 30 minutes of intensive, individual instruction three or more days per week—which has been proven to double and even triple the amount of learning in a single academic year. To create a massive, randomized control trial, the Education Lab and MDRC, a research nonprofit, will help school districts work to lower the number of tutors required and determine if and how it would be possible to scale this kind of tutoring without compromising effectiveness.

The research team will partner closely with multiple school districts across the country, including Chicago Public Schools as the anchor partner in this work. The research team will also benefit from the expertise of leading researchers at Northwestern University, Stanford University, and the University of Toronto.

“As students continue to struggle with pandemic-era learning loss, this project represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to boost learning and close longstanding gaps in student achievement,” said Monica Bhatt, senior research director at the University of Chicago Crime Lab and Education Lab. “The Education Lab is proud to work alongside our partners in determining how to cost-effectively deliver one of the most promising learning interventions—at scale—to a student population in urgent need of support.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Jacob Boomsma)