October 23, 2026
LANSING, Mich. — A summer tutoring pilot program helped Michigan students strengthen foundational academic skills and demonstrated that high-impact tutoring can be successfully adapted to summer learning environments, according to an independent evaluation released today.
The 2026 Summer High Impact Tutoring Pilot, conducted by Michigan Education Corps (MEC) and supported by the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential (MiLEAP), served 92 students at six school partner sites with seven trained tutors over five to six weeks. The pilot delivered literacy, math, and early-childhood tutoring, primarily serving students in kindergarten and first grade, and used evidence-based interventions, trained tutors, and coaching supports from MEC’s existing programs.
“Every child deserves the opportunity to keep learning and building their skills throughout the year,” said Dr. Beverly Walker-Griffea, executive director of MiLEAP. “This pilot demonstrated how targeted summer tutoring can help prevent summer learning loss, strengthen foundational academic skills, and prepare students for success in the upcoming school year. It also directly advances Michigan’s Every Child Reads goals by helping young learners build the literacy foundations they need to become strong readers.”
Preliminary findings showed student growth across every academic measure examined in reading and math. Kindergarten students increased letter-sound fluency by 7.0 sounds per minute, while students in grades 1-4 increased oral reading fluency by 3.7 correct words per minute; both gains were statistically significant. Students receiving math tutoring improved addition and subtraction performance by 6 percentage points, while early-childhood participants recognized an average of one additional letter by name.
“At MiLEAP, we know that strong literacy foundations begin early, and summer can be an important opportunity to provide additional support to children who need it,” said Synthia Britton, interim deputy director of MiLEAP overseeing the Office of Early Education. “This pilot shows that evidence-based tutoring can fit within summer learning environments while helping students build foundational skills. As Michigan continues its focus on Every Child Reads, we will continue learning from approaches that help children strengthen their skills and enter the school year ready to learn.”
The evaluation also found that summer tutoring was feasible to implement across all six participating sites. Students attended an average of 11.1 tutoring sessions, received approximately 167 minutes of tutoring and had an average attendance rate of 67%. Summer school staff reported that additional tutors could have been used to meet demand.
Tutors and school-based coaches also reported strong support for the program. All five responding tutors described their overall experience as positive and agreed that students made meaningful progress, while all four responding internal coaches strongly agreed that tutoring was a valuable use of summer-school time and recommended that the program continue. Participants also reported stronger student confidence, engagement and rapport with tutors.
“This pilot allowed us to take evidence-based tutoring models that have traditionally been used during the school year and test how they could work in the unique environment of summer learning,” said Dr. Holly Windram, executive director of Michigan Education Corps. “We saw students make progress, tutors and coaches build strong relationships with students, and schools successfully integrate tutoring into their summer programming. The results give us important information about what it takes to make summer tutoring work and how we can continue improving the model.”
“One of our kindergarten teachers had been working with the same student on the same skills throughout the school year, but he wasn’t able to finish the work independently,” said Roidale France-Flood, a teacher and internal coach at Bradford Academy in Southfield. “After four or five weeks of working with a tutor, she said he was able to work through the first five problems with the tutor and then finish the rest on his own. She said it was the first time all year that he had been able to do that. Seeing that kind of progress and independence was really exciting.”
“The summer tutoring pilot was an incredible opportunity for me as a tutor to grow my own skills while helping students grow as readers,” said Liza Gutierrez, a summer tutor at Meadowland Elementary School in Kentwood. “Over the summer, I watched their confidence and reading skills develop as they practiced and made progress. Now that I’m tutoring during the school year, I can see that they’ve carried that confidence and those skills with them. It’s rewarding to see them recognize themselves as capable readers.”
The pilot was designed to test whether evidence-based school-year tutoring models could be adapted to a shorter, less structured summer-school environment. The evaluation concludes that summer tutoring is a feasible and meaningful strategy with potential for expansion, while recommending continued learning and refinements to areas including coach onboarding, tutor experience, caseloads and data tracking.
The pilot comes as Michigan makes a significant new investment in high-impact tutoring. The state’s FY2027 education budget includes $50 million for high-impact tutoring to provide students who need additional support with individualized, structured and evidence-based interventions.
The Summer High Impact Tutoring Pilot was funded by MiLEAP through Preschool Development Grant B-5 funds and implemented by Michigan Education Corps.
This project was supported by Preschool Development Grant funds - grant number 90TP0138. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.
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About MiLEAP:
Established by Gov. Whitmer in 2023, MiLEAP ensures every Michigander has a path to prosperity from birth to earning a postsecondary credential that leads to high-wage careers. To learn more about MiLEAP, visit Michigan.gov/MiLEAP.
About Michigan Education Corps:
Michigan Education Corps (MEC), an initiative of Hope Network, partners with schools across Michigan to help students strengthen foundational reading and math skills through evidence-based intervention and high-impact tutoring. Since 2012, MEC has served Michigan students through individualized and small-group support delivered by trained tutors and supported by ongoing coaching, assessment and data-driven instruction. MEC also operates MEC Scholars, which supports high school students through additional education-focused opportunities and pathways. MEC is committed to empowering all Michigan kids to reach their highest level of academic achievement.
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