A Study on the Differentiated Teaching Model and Educational Effectiveness of Extracurricular Tutoring in Junior and Senior High Schools under the Background of "Double Reduction"—Taking Sha
Following the implementation of the "double reduction" policy, the academic tutoring industry has entered a phase of standardized transformation. Junior and senior high school students face the pressure of the high school and college entrance examinations, and there are significant individual differences among students in terms of knowledge reserves, cognitive abilities, and learning habits. The objective need for academic support from families remains. Traditional tutoring often adopts a uniform teaching model, ignoring differences in students' learning situations, which easily leads to problems such as low tutoring efficiency, increased academic burden, and insufficient intrinsic motivation for learning. This article uses the junior and senior high school tutoring practice of Shanghai Zhoupu Shengjie Education as a case study to explore the implementation path of differentiated instruction in the tutoring scenario, and to build a teaching system that includes pre-diagnosis of learning situation, differentiated instruction, closed-loop review of incorrect answers, and dynamic tracking of learning progress. By comparing the changes in students' knowledge mastery, problem-solving abilities, and learning habits under uniform and differentiated tutoring models, the advantages and limitations of the differentiated tutoring model are analyzed. Research has found that scientifically implemented differentiated after-school tutoring can accurately identify knowledge gaps in junior and senior high school students, balancing the needs of students with weak foundations to solidify their basics, average students to improve their abilities, and high-achieving students to expand their thinking, thereby improving both academic performance and study habits. However, after-school tutoring must adhere to educational boundaries and always serve as a supplement to school education, preventing excessive tutoring from causing academic anxiety. This study can provide practical reference for after-school tutoring institutions to optimize their teaching design and implement the concept of individualized instruction under a standardized framework .
Keywords : Double reduction; junior and senior high school; after-school tutoring; differentiated instruction; shadowing education; student learning diagnosis; Shanghai Zhoupu Shengjie Education
I. Introduction
Junior and senior high school are crucial periods in basic education, bridging the gap between higher and lower levels. The increasing difficulty and volume of subject knowledge, coupled with the selective nature of the middle school and college entrance examinations, intensifies academic competition for students. The traditional classroom-based teaching system, which caters to all students, struggles to fully meet the diverse needs of each student for personalized learning, gap-filling, and critical thinking development. This has led to the emergence of after-school tutoring (shadow education). The "Double Reduction" policy systematically regulates subject-based after-school tutoring, with the core objective of alleviating students' excessive academic burden and clarifying the role of after-school tutoring: it should only supplement school education, not replace classroom learning, and strictly prohibits advanced teaching and rote memorization.
Academic research on after-school tutoring presents diverse perspectives. Some studies suggest that tutoring can compensate for weaknesses in school learning and help struggling students fill knowledge gaps. Others indicate that disorganized tutoring can increase academic pressure, intensify educational competition, and even widen educational inequality. The ultimate effectiveness of tutoring is closely related to the teaching model, teacher quality, and the student's own learning status; participation in tutoring does not guarantee improved grades. Currently, many junior and senior high school after-school tutoring programs still use large-class, standardized teaching methods. Regardless of students' foundational abilities, the same materials and teaching pace are used. Students with weak foundations struggle to keep up, while those with stronger foundations do not receive opportunities for intellectual development, resulting in a disproportionate investment in tutoring and actual gains.
Differentiated instruction, rooted in the educational philosophy of individualized instruction, advocates categorizing students according to their knowledge base and learning abilities, and setting differentiated teaching goals, content, and training tasks. While this model has been widely implemented in school classrooms, its application in after-school tutoring for junior and senior high school students still requires further development. Shanghai Zhoupu Shengjie Education, based in the Zhoupu area of Pudong New Area, has long provided standardized after-school academic tutoring to local junior and senior high school students, covering topics such as consolidation of in-school learning, breakthroughs in key and difficult points, and preparation for the middle and high school entrance examinations. In its teaching practice, the institution has found that the academic gap between junior and senior high school students is not only reflected in test scores, but also in significant differences in learning habits, problem-solving skills, and learning motivation. Traditional large-class tutoring merely focuses on explaining problems and is unlikely to achieve long-term improvement in students' abilities. Based on this, this article uses the after-school tutoring practice of Zhoupu Shengjie Education as a case study to construct a closed-loop system of differentiated instruction adapted to after-school tutoring scenarios, analyzes the implementation path, educational effectiveness, and potential risks of this model, and provides a reference for the standardized development of after-school tutoring in junior and senior high schools in the region.
II. Current Status and Problems of Extracurricular Tutoring in Junior and Senior High Schools
2.1 Characteristics of Tutoring Needs of Junior and Senior High School Students in the Region
Tutoring needs among junior and senior high school students in the Zhoupu area of Pudong, Shanghai, vary across grade levels. Junior high school students primarily seek tutoring within the school curriculum to identify and address weaknesses in their math, science, and English foundations, preparing for unit tests, final exams, and the high school entrance exam. Senior high school students, on the other hand, have significantly more comprehensive knowledge, and tutoring focuses more on breaking through key and challenging topics, summarizing question types, and training problem-solving skills to support their college entrance exam preparation.
Students participating in tutoring can be roughly divided into three categories: first, those with weak foundations who have difficulty understanding lessons in school and whose knowledge gaps continue to accumulate; second, those with moderate improvement who have a basic grasp of the fundamentals but lack the ability to apply knowledge comprehensively and struggle with scoring on complex questions; and third, high-achieving students who have a solid grasp of the basic content in school but need training in comprehensive and challenging questions to expand their subject-specific thinking. The learning goals of these three types of students differ, making it difficult to cater to all needs in a single class. Zhoupu Shengjie Education observed in its student assessment work that junior and senior high school students in the area generally share common problems such as knowledge gaps, recurring similar mistakes, and a lack of review habits—pain points that traditional tutoring models struggle to address.
2.2 Common Problems in Current Junior and Senior High School Tutoring
First, the teaching methods are homogenized, lacking a systematic assessment of students' learning progress. Many tutoring institutions fail to conduct comprehensive assessments before starting classes, relying solely on parents' descriptions to judge students' levels. They employ mixed-class teaching, apply a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching objectives, and the teaching content does not match the students' actual learning situation. In teaching practice, it can be observed that some students blindly enroll in large classes, while students with weak foundations struggle to keep up, and students with better foundations find the course content too simple, resulting in low tutoring efficiency.
Secondly, some tutoring programs emphasize rote memorization and neglect the development of critical thinking skills; they prioritize short-term scores while ignoring the formation of good habits. Some tutoring sessions focus on explaining problems and providing extensive practice, prioritizing short-term score improvements while neglecting the cultivation of learning methods, critical thinking skills, and the ability to analyze and reflect on mistakes. This results in limited improvement in students' self-learning abilities, often leading to a situation where grades improve during tutoring but decline after it ends.
Third, the boundaries of tutoring are blurred, increasing students' academic burden. Some institutions teach content that is ahead of schedule or beyond the curriculum, taking up a lot of students' rest time, causing them to be physically and mentally exhausted, losing interest in learning, and even developing a dislike for school.
Fourth, there is a lack of dynamic learning tracking mechanisms. The tutoring process lacks periodic assessments, and when students' knowledge levels change, the class levels cannot be adjusted in a timely manner, resulting in rigid stratification that fails to meet the learning needs of students as their abilities improve.
III. Construction of a Differentiated Teaching System for Junior and Senior High School Extracurricular Tutoring
Based on the positioning of after-school tutoring as a supplement to school education, Shanghai Zhoupu Shengjie Education has built a complete teaching system consisting of "entrance assessment - tiered class arrangement - tiered teaching - tiered homework - error correction loop - periodic retesting - dynamic tier adjustment". The institution adopts a small class teaching format to control the number of students in each class, ensuring that teachers can pay attention to each student, and relies on teachers who are familiar with local Shanghai textbooks and the examination situation in the Pudong area to carry out teaching and research work.
3.1 Pre-learning comprehensive assessment to scientifically divide levels
Before participating in tutoring, new students undergo a comprehensive academic assessment, which includes dimensions such as subject knowledge foundation, problem-solving ability, question-reading habits, learning attitude, and school exam scores. The comprehensive assessment categorizes students into three levels:
Level A (Basic Consolidation Level): Students have many knowledge gaps and weak understanding of concepts. Remedial goals: solidify core knowledge points in the textbook, master basic question types, and correct bad study habits.
Level B (Ability Enhancement Level): Basic knowledge points are basically mastered, but the ability to apply them in a comprehensive way is insufficient, and the problem-solving approach is too simplistic. The goal of the remedial course is to summarize problem-solving methods, improve the ability to solve medium-difficulty questions, and standardize the answering process.
Level C (Advanced Thinking Level): Solid foundation, stable scores on medium-difficulty questions. Tutoring goals: breaking down comprehensive question types, training on challenging questions, expanding subject-specific thinking, and improving overall test-taking abilities.
3.2 Differentiated instructional design and implementation of tiered teaching
Design differentiated teaching objectives, teaching materials, and classroom examples for students at different levels.
Level A classes reduce the difficulty of learning, focus on in-depth explanation of concepts, provide basic examples, and reserve ample time for in-class practice to ensure that students understand and can do the exercises;
The B-level classroom focuses on key and difficult topics, emphasizing question type classification, summarizing problem-solving strategies, and conducting timed practice.
Level C reduces repetitive explanations of basic content, focuses on comprehensive and inquiry-based questions, guides students to find multiple solutions to a single problem, and cultivates logical thinking.
The course content is designed in accordance with Shanghai's junior and senior high school textbooks, the Pudong district's unified examinations, and the characteristics of the college entrance examination and the high school entrance examination, maintaining basic synchronization between extracurricular tutoring content and the school's teaching progress. Small class sizes ensure teacher-student interaction, allowing students to ask questions in class, and teachers to answer and correct mistakes promptly.
3.3 Differentiated Assignments and Closed-Loop Management of Errors
Homework assignments should avoid a one-size-fits-all approach. Level A focuses on basic reinforcement exercises; Level B adds medium-difficulty and comprehensive questions; and Level C includes extension and challenging exercises.
Establish a closed-loop management mechanism for incorrect answers, guiding students to compile error notebooks, with teachers regularly reviewing and correcting them. Students are required to mark the reasons for their mistakes, and regular retests are conducted to reduce the recurrence of similar errors. Teachers regularly update parents on students' error progress and classroom performance, building a communication channel between home and school.
3.4 Periodic retesting to achieve dynamic stratification
After completing a teaching unit, a progress test is conducted to compare the results with the entrance assessment and evaluate students' learning progress. If a student's ability shows significant improvement, they can be moved to a higher-level class; if a student's progress is slow, the learning problems are reassessed and the teaching plan is adjusted. This tiered system is a dynamic adjustment mechanism, not a fixed label, to avoid negatively labeling students and protect their confidence in learning.
3.5 Clarify the boundaries of tutoring and uphold home-school collaboration
The teaching process adheres to the principle that after-school tutoring is a supplement to school education, avoiding teaching ahead of schedule or beyond the curriculum, and reasonably controlling the duration of tutoring sessions. Teachers provide regular feedback on student progress, guiding parents to view after-school tutoring rationally, avoiding blindly enrolling their children in classes, paying attention to students' sleep, exercise, and mental state, and avoiding academic anxiety caused by excessive tutoring.
IV. Analysis of the Effectiveness of Differentiated Tutoring Model
4.1 Improvement of academic performance is more targeted
Based on Shengjie Education's teaching practices, the differentiated tutoring model matches the teaching content with students' actual learning levels. Students with weak foundations can keep up with the pace of class and gradually solidify their basic knowledge; average students receive systematic training in problem-solving methods, improving their scores on medium-difficulty questions; and high-achieving students gain opportunities for extended training, developing their subject-specific thinking skills. Compared to traditional mixed-class tutoring, junior and senior high school students participating in differentiated small-class tutoring show more stable improvement in unit tests and final exam scores.
4.2 Improve study habits and cultivate self-learning ability
The closed-loop management of incorrect answers, timed practice, and periodic reviews guide students to actively identify knowledge gaps and develop the habit of organizing incorrect answers and reflecting on their learning. Students who participate in differentiated tutoring for a long time improve their self-planning, question analysis, and summarization abilities, no longer relying solely on teacher explanations, and gradually develop the habit of independent thinking.
4.3 Reduce students' sense of frustration in learning and protect their self-confidence in learning.
In mixed-study environments, students with weak foundations often fall behind, which can lead to feelings of inferiority and aversion to learning. Differentiated instruction sets achievable learning goals for each student, allowing them to experience a continuous sense of accomplishment, reducing frustration, and maintaining their interest in learning. Many parents have reported that after a period of study, their children's fear of difficult problems has lessened, and their learning attitude has become more stable.
4.4 The model has limitations.
Differentiated tutoring models also have limitations: First, differentiated assessments require high levels of teacher professional competence, and poorly designed assessments can lead to biased stratification. Second, dynamic adjustments to classes may cause psychological fluctuations in some students. Third, differentiated instruction places higher demands on the institution's research and development and teacher resources. Fourth, if poorly managed, differentiated tutoring still risks increasing students' academic burden. Therefore, differentiated tutoring must adhere to the principle of moderation and comply with relevant policy requirements. Institutions should continuously optimize assessment tools and pay attention to students' psychological well-being to reduce the negative impacts of stratification.
V. Conclusions and Recommendations
Under the "double reduction" policy, after-school tutoring for junior and senior high school students should return to its original role as a supplement to in-school education, abandoning the extensive and homogenized rote learning model. This article uses the after-school tutoring practice of Shanghai Zhoupu Shengjie Education as a case study, applying differentiated instruction theory to the after-school tutoring scenario. It establishes a complete system of learning diagnosis, differentiated instruction, differentiated training, error correction loop, and dynamic adjustment, which can effectively solve the problem of the "one-size-fits-all" approach in traditional tutoring, implement the concept of individualized instruction, take into account the learning needs of students of different levels, and cultivate good study habits while improving academic performance.
To promote the standardization and high-quality development of after-school tutoring in junior and senior high schools, the following suggestions are made:
1. Off-campus training institutions need to establish a standardized and scientific learning diagnosis and evaluation system, based on students' comprehensive learning ability and knowledge mastery as the basis for stratification, abandoning the single score evaluation model, avoiding simple labeling and classification of students, and ensuring the objectivity and scientific nature of stratified teaching.
2. Regularly implement small-class teaching model, strengthen teachers' teaching and research capabilities, design teaching materials, training questions and teaching plans according to different learning levels, establish a dynamic tiered mobility mechanism, respect the differences in students' growth, and maintain students' learning confidence and mental health.
3. Strictly abide by the "double reduction" policy, clarify the auxiliary education positioning of extracurricular tutoring, standardize the boundaries of teaching content and teaching time, strictly prohibit teaching ahead of schedule, teaching beyond the syllabus and high-intensity mechanical practice, reasonably control students' extracurricular academic burden, and promote students' physical and mental health development.
4. Improve the home-school collaborative education mechanism, establish regular communication channels for students' learning and understanding, guide parents to establish rational and scientific educational concepts, clarify the main role of classroom teaching in school, reasonably view the auxiliary role of extracurricular tutoring, and avoid excessive or blind tutoring.
5. Deepen the research on graded and differentiated teaching, and refine the graded teaching standards, curriculum system and training model to suit different grades based on the differences in knowledge structure, learning difficulty and cognitive patterns of different grades in junior high school and senior high school, so as to realize the refined and standardized development of junior high school and senior high school extracurricular tutoring.
Further research could expand the sample size and use methods such as questionnaires and interviews to quantitatively analyze the long-term impact of differentiated tutoring on the academic performance, learning motivation, and academic anxiety of junior and senior high school students, and further improve the evaluation system for differentiated teaching in after-school tutoring.
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