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  4. October 2025
  5. Apart but Connected: Online Tutoring, Cognitive Outcomes, and Soft Skills

American Economic Review

ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)

Apart but Connected: Online Tutoring, Cognitive Outcomes, and Soft Skills

  • Michela Carlana
  • Eliana La Ferrara
American Economic Review
vol. 115, no. 10, October 2025
(pp. 3487–3513)
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Abstract

We study the Tutoring Online Program (TOP), where tutoring is entirely online and tutors are volunteer university students matched with underprivileged middle school students. We leverage random assignment to estimate effects during and after the pandemic (2020 and 2022), investigating channels of impact. Three hours of individual tutoring per week increased math performance by 0.22 SD in 2020 and 0.20 SD in 2022. Higher dosage yielded stronger effects, while group tutoring smaller effects. TOP enhanced students' aspirations, socioemotional skills, and psychological well-being, but only during school closures. We also estimate the impact of TOP on tutors, finding an increase in empathy.

Citation

Carlana, Michela, and Eliana La Ferrara. 2025. "Apart but Connected: Online Tutoring, Cognitive Outcomes, and Soft Skills." American Economic Review 115 (10): 3487–3513. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20240401

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • I12 Health Behavior
  • I21 Analysis of Education
  • I23 Higher Education; Research Institutions
  • I26 Returns to Education
  • I28 Education: Government Policy