Transformative Tutoring Initiative empowers
Oklahoma high school math intervention

OU students train for the Transformative Tutoring Initiative.

The Transformative Tutoring Initiative employs games and personal journaling as OU students provide high-dosage math tutoring to high school students twice a week.

Oklahoma high school students who’ve fallen behind in math may have a better chance at a bright future through a new University of Oklahoma program combining the power of philanthropic investment with OU research and outreach.

The Transformative Tutoring Initiative, a two-year program using high-dosage tutoring, launched in August through a $2.9 million gift to the OU Foundation from Randall and Lenise Stephenson of Dallas.

The initiative pairs outstanding OU students trained in math tutoring with 100 9th-grade students at Noble High School and Oklahoma City’s Santa Fe South Charter School. High school students were identified through standardized test scores and randomly assigned to tutors.

Stephenson–the retired, longtime CEO and president of AT&T Inc. and a 1986 OU master of accountancy graduate–brought the idea to Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education Dean Stacy Reeder after learning about a similar study at the University of Chicago.

“The results were stunning; I couldn’t believe what I was reading,” Stephenson said. “The Chicago project doubled and tripled the math achievement scores of students within a year.”

Stephenson asked Reeder’s team of education researchers to determine whether the study could be scaled to work in Oklahoma communities using undergraduates as tutors.

“Let’s get some of the best and brightest OU students and begin a statistically relevant assessment on what’s within the realm of possibility,” he said. “Over the course of these two years, I’m quite confident we’re going to affect students’ lives.”

Reeder agrees. “We know the inability to pass mathematics cascades and is one of the key factors negatively impacting graduation,” she said. “Because of the pandemic, students have fallen even further behind.

“There’s an absence of intervention programs for older students,” Reeder explained. “If you aren’t on target for math when you start high school, how do you get the help you need? From research, we know that a failure to graduate can lead to negative life outcomes. How do we help students and change the trajectory of their lives?”

The initiative pairs two freshmen with an OU tutor for 50 minutes twice weekly to supplement what students learn in daily math classes. They also meet individually with their math teacher once weekly.

“Our goal is that OU tutors become mentors,” said Cristina Moershel, director of tutoring for the project and an OU doctoral candidate with more than a decade’s experience teaching in Title I public schools. “Students can be honest about what they do and don’t understand. They can slow down or go faster, depending upon their needs.”

Results may go far beyond math skills. “Some studies suggest that students who participate in high-dosage tutoring are more motivated and engaged in school overall,” said Daniel Hamlin, an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy studies heading up a research team examining the OU study’s outcomes.

Hamlin said the project will start with a new group next fall and potentially expand to as many as 10 schools and 1,000 students.

Reeder said the Stephensons’ investment in each student is an inspiration. “It gives me hope. I’m incredibly excited to be a part of this program and honored and humbled that they would partner with us.”

In turn, Stephenson points out that both he and his wife are products of Oklahoma public schools. “But for the ability to go to OU, I could never have in my wildest dreams aspired to the incredible experiences that Lenise and I have had,” he said. “What can we do to ensure that the next generation of kids have those same opportunities?”