How much has the US spent on high-dosage tutoring?

Read it on arXiv →

Short answer: Approximately $2.2 billion in district-level ESSER allocations were directed toward tutoring programs, estimated via an XGBoost model trained on district spending plans.

Key findings

• XGBoost model trained on district ESSER spending plans to classify tutoring expenditures
• Estimates ~$2.2billionindistricttutoringallocationsfromthe$190 billion ESSER program
• District-level expenditure analysis bridging the gap between federal allocation data and on-the-ground spending
• Addresses the absence of a federal-level source that describes ESSER expenditures with tutoring detail

Publication

arXiv: 2510.24899. Godfrey, J., & Banerjee, T.

See also

• Where have ESSER funds been allocated to tutoring
• ESSER Data Snapshots
• How can we engineer data-informed tutoring at scale
• How can states continue pandemic-era direct student services post-ESSER
• If the money moves do the metrics move too