91涩漫

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for 91涩漫 Newsletter

As students head back to class across the country, Varsity Tutors for Schools, one of the nation鈥檚 largest providers, has gone out of business.

In a last week, Chuck Cohn, CEO of Nerdy, Varsity鈥檚 parent company, wrote that leaders would 鈥渨ind down鈥� the online service they launched during the pandemic as districts nationwide spent billions in federal relief funds to help students recover lost learning.

Instead, Missouri-based Nerdy will focus on its original Varsity Tutors model, which targets services directly to parents and college students, rather than schools. That, Cohn wrote, is 鈥渙ur core business, where the opportunity is significantly larger and where our resources and management bandwidth earn better returns.鈥�

In a Friday note to Accelerate, a nonprofit that funded Varsity last year as part of a research study, a representative from the company wrote: “Today we are communicating to our school customers that we will be discontinuing services effective today.” 

The end of Varsity Tutors for Schools follows the abrupt termination of another large provider, FEV Tutor, in early 2025 as relief funds dried up. But tutoring experts say this shutdown is not just another example of districts running out of extra federal money. In fact, multiple states, , now provide ongoing funding for high-impact tutoring, including virtual models. With districts increasingly demanding strong results, Varsity Tutors for Schools, they say, wasn鈥檛 able to deliver proof that their services increased student performance.

For-profit providers, like Nerdy, have to answer to investors and shareholders. But regardless of the business model, those 鈥渢hat adhere closely to the research are going to be the ones that are more likely to have stronger outcomes,鈥� said Kathy Bendheim, strategic advising director at the National Student Support Accelerator, a tutoring research center at Stanford University. 

A forthcoming paper from the center on state policies says that the 2024 results from the National Assessment for Educational Progress provide ample evidence that the need for high-impact tutoring 鈥渞emains urgent.鈥� Reading and math scores have not rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. 

Research supports models in which students meet at least three times a week, one-on-one or in small groups, with the same tutor over several weeks. In addition to following that structure, districts, Bendheim said, want tutors who 鈥渨ork closely with them to make sure their program meets the needs and the context on the ground.鈥�

鈥楶aying the piper鈥�

Mark Monta帽o, superintendent of the Bernalillo Public Schools in New Mexico, said Varsity Tutors for Schools didn鈥檛 live up to his expectations. 

鈥淲e actually stopped working with them after one year,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey were not able to meet the promises of the service.鈥�

The district opted for Varsity in 2024 when the New Mexico Department of Education struggled to roll out a statewide program. Varsity pledged to 鈥渋mmediately鈥� connect students with a tutor day or night if they needed help. But the company, Monta帽o said, was unable to provide support 鈥渋n a timely fashion.鈥�

The company did not return calls requesting comments, and Cohn did not respond to email or a message on LinkedIn. 91涩漫鈥檚 attempts to reach Jason Pello, who was as chief financial officer in April, were also unsuccessful. According to with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Pello still serves as a consultant to the company.

In a , Kevin Huffman, CEO of Accelerate, wrote that both FEV and Nerdy didn鈥檛 prioritize evidence of student gains.

鈥淥ther programs 鈥� nonprofits and for-profits 鈥� have pushed for strong external evaluations including randomized control trials,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淭he tutoring companies that pushed (or were pushed by funders) into rapid growth ahead of evidence-building are now paying the piper.鈥澛�

Some providers entered into 鈥渙utcomes-based鈥� contracts with districts that reward tutors with higher fees if students show enough improvement. shows it鈥檚 a promising approach, but there鈥檚 no evidence that Varsity was involved in such a contract. 

狈别谤诲测鈥檚 website includes some that point to success in raising student achievement. One from 2022 describes a small study in the Garden Grove district in California in which fourth graders who were at or below grade level in math were randomly chosen for afterschool sessions with a Varsity tutor.

According to of the study, i-Ready scores increased by 9.82 points for students in the treatment group, compared with an average of 4.52 points for those who didn鈥檛 receive the intervention. The researchers ruled out students鈥� prior math performance and background characteristics as possible explanations for the results. 

But the description doesn鈥檛 cite the names of the University of California Irvine researchers who conducted the study, and Bendheim at Stanford said there wasn鈥檛 enough information to 鈥渦nderstand how the study was designed and implemented to know whether it is rigorous enough to rely on the findings.鈥�

Accelerate was trying to help them establish that research base. A year ago, the nonprofit listed Varsity Tutors for Schools as in a study aimed at learning more about high-impact tutoring using 鈥淎I-enabled鈥� tools. 

Working with Mathematica, a research organization, the project gathered data in three districts using Varsity during the 2025-26 school year. At least two had planned to stick with the provider this fall, said Nakia Towns, Accelerate鈥檚 president. While the study is not yet complete, her initial impressions weren鈥檛 positive.

鈥淥nly 15% of students were hitting their recommended dosage,鈥� she said. Educators and policymakers are getting 鈥渕ore savvy鈥� about where to spend funds for tutoring, 鈥渁nd unfortunately, I think Varsity Tutors was just late in their market positioning to understand that’s where folks were moving.鈥� 

鈥楻andom tutoring鈥�

As one of the nation鈥檚 largest providers, Varsity Tutors benefits from significant brand recognition among parents. But it struggled to translate that success into a structure that satisfied districts, said a former employee, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. 

鈥淎 parent is thrilled that there’s somebody there to help them with their child,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen there鈥檚 no structure in place, and it’s just random tutoring, that doesn’t meet school districts鈥� needs.鈥� 

Cohn in 2007 while he was a student at Washington University in St. Louis. Under the new name Nerdy, he took the company public in . While Varsity Tutors, the original service, phased out in-person sessions , the American Rescue Plan, which sent $122 billion to schools for recovery efforts, offered an to scale up quickly.

At the time, Cohn said school administrators needed personalized learning 鈥渋mplemented immediately at a school-wide, or even district-wide level, without requiring each student to register individually.鈥�

According to , Varsity Tutors for Schools provided services to over 1,000 districts and schools. Other materials say they were , including like Broward County in Florida, Montgomery County in Maryland and Gwinnett County in Georgia. 

鈥淲e had great momentum, even from last school year,鈥� said the former employee. 鈥淲e had great results in a lot of cases.鈥� 

Last October, Frederick Heid, superintendent of Florida鈥檚 Polk County Public Schools, in support of Varsity鈥檚 Live+AI feature, which the company said can 鈥渟peed up proficiency gains.鈥�

The combination of live tutoring and AI support for students, he said, ensures 鈥渢hat every student has the tools they need to succeed while offering teachers an unparalleled support system.鈥�

But because of the expiration of federal funds, Polk was among those no longer planning to use the program this fall, said Jason Geary, a district spokesman.

A review of GovSpend, a data company tracking government purchases, shows that districts鈥� business with Varsity Tutors for Schools saw a steep decline following a peak of more than $28 million in 2023.

In his report to shareholders, Cohn estimated that 狈别谤诲测鈥檚 revenue for this year would drop by $12 million to $15 million because of the shutdown of its district work. The company expects 鈥渆xit-related costs鈥� of $2 million to $4 million due to canceling contracts early.

狈别谤诲测鈥檚 , which reached over $12 , fell to 74 cents on Monday. 

It鈥檚 unclear how many districts planned to use the service this fall, but according to GovSpend, the Winton Woods City School District, near Cincinnati, made two payments totaling $56,350 to the provider on July 13 for the 2026-27 school year.

The 3,900-student in January 2025 that it had chosen to contract with Varsity Tutors for Schools. District officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Varsity Tutors for Schools is also on a list of approved providers for a Missouri literacy tutoring grant. Bendheim at Stanford said she personally doesn鈥檛 know districts that have used the service, but added, 鈥淲e just hope that they were able to work with their districts closely enough so that students don’t miss out on tutoring they were supposed to get.鈥� 

Did you use this article in your work?

We鈥檇 love to hear how 91涩漫鈥檚 reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers.