Research

Publications

Expanding Access to Tutoring: A Scalable Platform for Personalized Learning and Data-Driven Research (with Bernardo Garcia Bulle Bueno, Fernanda Albo Alarcón ans Sebastián Guevara)

Abstract
Expanding access to high-quality tutoring is critical for reducing educational disparities, yet scaling effective programs remains a challenge. We developed a platform that automates key logistical aspects of online tutoring, enabling large-scale implementation. Our system includes a real-time monitoring framework that tracks tutor activities. Prior research on online tutoring has shown positive effects on student learning. Building on this, we conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in Mexico. We find that students assigned to tutoring improved their math scores by 0.14 standard deviations. Beyond tutoring delivery, the platform serves as a tool for research. Participating tutors upload class recordings. While this paper focuses on the tutoring intervention, we provide an overview of the platform’s potential to facilitate large-scale RCTs. We also show some basic applications of machine learning tools to our data with the aim to analyze student-tutor interactions at scale, bridging the gap between quantitative and qualitative research in education.
[Paper]

TutorUp: What If Your Students Were Simulated? Training Tutors to Address Engagement Challenges in Online Learning

Abstract

With the rise of online learning, many novice tutors lack experience engaging students remotely. We introduce TutorUp, a Large Language Model (LLM)-based system that enables novice tutors to practice engagement strategies with simulated students through scenario-based training. Based on a formative study involving two surveys (N1 = 86, N2 = 102) on student engagement challenges, we summarize scenarios that mimic real teaching situations. To enhance immersion and realism, we employ a prompting strategy that simulates dynamic online learning dialogues. TutorUp provides immediate and asynchronous feedback by referencing tutor-students online session dialogues and evidence-based teaching strategies from learning science literature. In a within-subject evaluation (N = 16), participants rated TutorUp significantly higher than a baseline system without simulation capabilities regarding effectiveness and usability. Our findings suggest that TutorUp provides novice tutors with more effective training to learn and apply teaching strategies to address online student engagement challenges.

[Paper]

Working Papers

Recording the Impact of Social and Emotional Learning (with Fernanda Albo and Bernardo García Bulle Bueno)

Abstract
Social skills have been shown to predict earnings, teamwork, and productivity, and they are in increasing demand in the labor market. Schools play a central role in fostering these skills, increasingly through social and emotional learning (SEL). Despite the widespread adoption of SEL programs, evidence on their effects on classroom behavior is limited, as most studies rely on self-reports, survey measures, or, in a few cases, classroom observation. We implement a randomized controlled trial in an online setting where university students tutored elementary and middle school students in math. We randomized the delivery of an SEL intervention of ten one-hour modules, compared to a control group receiving ten one-hour history modules. SEL improved reported rapport (affective relationship) between tutors and students and increased math learning by 0.0495 standard deviations. To study its impact on behavior, we collected and transcribed more than 18,000 hours of tutoring sessions and applied a novel hypothesis-generation method to the text. This analysis reveals that SEL-treated math classes featured more active listening, less formal exchanges, simpler language, and more discussion of personal topics at the start of class. Together, these results demonstrate that SEL can significantly impact classroom behavior, relationships, and learning, and showcase the power of large-scale classroom recordings for understanding the dynamics of skill formation.

Can Single-Gender Classrooms Counteract Traditional Gender Beliefs? Evidence from a Tutoring RCT (with Bernardo García Bulle Bueno)

Abstract
This paper examines how group composition moderates the impact of tutors' traditional gender beliefs (TGB) on girls’ learning. Although previous research has documented the negative effects of gender-biased attitudes on girls' academic outcomes, the mechanisms behind these effects remain unclear. We conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in which students were assigned to either single-gender or mixed-gender tutoring groups, while tutors’ gender beliefs were independently measured. We find that girls in mixed-gender groups learned significantly less when their tutor held TGB, whereas girls in single-gender groups were not negatively affected by TGB tutors. Interestingly, when tutors did not hold TGB, girls in single-gender groups underperformed relative to their peers in mixed-gender groups. These results suggest that single-gender groups can mitigate the negative effects of TGB tutors, likely because such tutors tend to favor boys in mixed-gender settings. At the same time, they indicate that single-gender grouping may be detrimental when tutors do not hold traditional gender beliefs, highlighting the need for careful consideration of tutor characteristics in designing gender-based classroom interventions.
[Draft]

Good Vibes in Class: A Tool to Detect Which Emotions Lead to More Learning (with Fernanda Albo, Bernardo García Bulle Bueno and Tobin South)

Abstract
We present a method to characterize the classroom environment through emotion detection from audio recordings. Using machine learning tools we build an emotion classifier using MFCC features of labeled voice clips and apply it to slices of more than 1,500 online class session records. We find that higher measurements of high-intensity emotions were significantly correlated with higher Teacher Value Added (TVA) estimates, determined using Math test scores of students before and after receiving tutoring. Secondly, we found that attendance metrics in the second class were highly correlated to the class environment in the first class. Finally, we found that higher-skilled tutors progressively increased high-intensity emotions as they had more sessions with their students.

Salome Aguilar Llanes

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JANN

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