Four California Districts Join Tutoring Contract Cohort
Outcomes based contracts for high-dosage tutoring will be tested by four California school districts serving at least 400 students each.
By Academic Writing Club Newsroom
The Center for Outcomes Based Contracting and the California Department of Education’s Expanded Learning Division announced that four California districts are joining a new cohort for outcomes based contracts in high-dosage tutoring. Each district will assemble a three-to-five-person leadership team and run a tutoring program for at least 400 students. At least 40% of provider payment must be tied to defined student outcomes. The program begins this month and provides coaching, implementation tools, evaluation support, workshops, site visits, and peer learning at no cost.
Four Districts Join Cohort
Elk Grove Unified School District, Inglewood Unified School District, Visalia Unified School District, and San Jacinto Unified School District will take part. Under outcomes based contracting, districts connect part of a provider’s compensation to student outcomes rather than paying only for service delivery.
Brittany Miller, Executive Director at the Center for Outcomes Based Contracting, said:
“Early adopter districts in California have already shown what's possible when contracts are designed around student outcomes. We're excited to build on that early momentum by bringing four more districts together to learn, test, and refine this approach. This cohort is an opportunity to turn lessons from early implementation into a broader body of practice that can help districts connect tutoring investments more directly to student progress.”
Building On Earlier Contracts
Research finds that learning interventions delivered under outcomes based contracts can improve student outcomes, strengthen district-provider partnerships, and build district capacity.
The cohort follows work at Santa Ana Unified School District, Fresno Unified School District, and Milpitas Unified School District.
Santa Ana Results
Santa Ana partnered with the Center in 2023 to redesign literacy supports for its most vulnerable students, tying 55% of provider payments to outcomes. Its program expanded from 42 students at two schools to 1,152 students across 27 schools the following year. Seventy-two percent of students met at least one contracted outcome, while program attendance reached 78% and the tutor-student match rate reached 89%.
What The Cohort Means
For students receiving tutoring, the new contracts link providers’ payment in part to agreed measures of progress. For participating districts, the cohort offers support to design, implement, and evaluate those agreements while testing the approach with at least 400 students each.
