Elyssa Katz, a mother of three from Santa Monica, is developing a matchmaking service to unite families with tutors, or "Zutors," a term she is in the process of trademarking. Katz describes a Zutor as a tutor, a nanny, and a parent’s guardian angel who can take on the roles of parental responsibilities, assist children with online homework, and take them outside during recess. Katz’s clients come from diverse backgrounds, including those who need childcare while they work and the affluent. She has even received calls from parents as far as the Hamptons. For a matchmaking fee that ranges from $700 to $1,000 (£549 to £785), Katz and her team will interview tutor candidates, run background checks, and team them up with the appropriate families. Tutoring and childcare fees range from $20 to $65 (£15 to £51) an hour, which translates to $1,625 (£1,276) per week if a tutor is employed for five hours a day, five days a week. However, Katz states that fees vary by service type, with some charging as much as $125 (£98) per hour.
With some school districts opting for a virtual semester in the fall, parents are creating their own "pods" by teaming up with other families to organize their own educational systems. Methods include expensive boutique services like Katz’s, DIY "microschools" that rent living spaces, and virtual tutors who can supplement online instruction. While this development is a testament to parents’ concern for their children’s health and academic progress amid school closures, it also raises questions of whether these systems exacerbate pre-existing patterns of segregation and inequity in education.
Although parents of all incomes have always sought alternative educational solutions, resources like private tutors are most easily accessible to those who can afford them. Choosing who to include in your pod, based on criteria such as neighborhood, income, or ability level, has the potential to reinforce existing inequalities. According to Robin Lake, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education, "I think what we will see is families self-selecting into pretty similar groups. That kind of segregation already exists in our school system. This would just exacerbate it."
Inequality in the US education system has always existed, with school districts sharply divided by income and race. Schools have more extensive budgets for educational programs per student in affluent areas, and prosperous parents can afford exclusive schools by owning property in expensive neighborhoods. In California, as in other states, student outcomes are also influenced by race and income. In 2019, around 70% of Black students and 60% of Latinos did not pass state standards for literacy, compared to 24% of Asians and 35% of white students. Research indicates that closing schools will most likely result in a learning regression for most students, with students of color, who lack access to electronic devices and the internet disproportionately, suffering the most.
It is too early to predict how private tutors’ rise will affect disparities, but Morgan Polikoff, an associate professor of education policy at USC’s Rossier School of Education, claims that the gap’s growth will depend on how widespread the trend becomes. Polikoff explains, "If it’s just a case of a couple percent of very wealthy families opting their kids into this kind of arrangement, I don’t really see how that’s any different from them sending their kids to some elite private school. If it’s a wider-spread phenomenon that affects more families, then I think it could lead to meaningful widening of achievement gaps."
As schools continue to remain closed, parents and educators alike are searching for ways to ensure children do not fall behind. One solution that has gained popularity in recent weeks is the formation of pods — small, collaborative groups of students who learn together in person, often with the guidance of a teacher or tutor.
Lian Chikako Chang, a marketing professional and parent in San Francisco, took notice of the growing demand for tutoring services and created a Facebook group for parents interested in forming pods. Within seconds, she had her first member, and just thirteen days later, over 10,000 parents had joined or requested to join the group.
Chang recognizes that the group has grown so quickly that not all logistics have been ironed out, and finding ways to protect families from being unfairly excluded is a priority. Parents may inadvertently exclude children of essential workers, who are predominantly Black and brown, by asking personal questions such as whether a family member’s work brings them into the community. Therefore, finding a way to pose such questions without being discriminatory is paramount.
While pods may help fill the void left by school closures, advocates warn that students with disabilities may still not receive the educational services they typically received in person. Organizations like Oakland Reach are an example of a group that created a robust online summer school program that plans to continue through the academic year. This shows that parents coming together to create alternative models of education that work for their communities is vital.
Maia Lazar, who has been a substitute teacher in the Los Angeles area for the past four years, is a member of Chang’s Facebook group and is hoping to be hired by a family or group willing to pay her $1,000 a week to teach exclusively to their pod in a bid to minimize her exposure to the virus. However, to ensure equity, educators must also be willing to donate their time to families who cannot afford to hire a tutor.
Despite the growing popularity of pods, educators are turning their focus to making them more equitable. Elisha Smith Arrillaga, Executive Director of the Education Trust – West, a research and advocacy organization focused on educational justice, believes that while pods may be part of the picture, they are not the only solution.
The emergence of these pods necessitates a more pressing need to explore alternative means to ensure that every student has access to all the necessary resources.
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