Behind The Nerdy Tutoring Surge

High-dosage tutoring is en vogue among those seeking to help students rapidly make up for learning lost during the pandemic.

With a significant research base behind the efficacy of tutoring, that’s driven widespread interest in schools using federal relief dollars on such tutoring solutions. And that in turn has fueled spending on a variety of businesses offering tutoring solutions.

Among the leaders in this wave has been Nerdy and its flagship business Varsity Tutors.

When I coauthored Disrupting Class in 2008, one of the questions we had was where were the areas of nonconsumption in education that would create opportunities for disruptive innovations to emerge that led to more student-centered learning. Tutoring seemed to be one of the biggest areas in the sense that the data suggested that 80 percent of the students who needed access to tutors were unable to access them.

Yet despite the promise of online tutoring and many online tutoring businesses that emerged in the subsequent years, the tutoring nonconsumption seemed to persist and no dominant entity emerged in the field.