{
  "slug": "learning-loss-recovery-cost",
  "title": "Learning Loss Recovery Cost Calculator",
  "heading": "Learning Loss Recovery Tutoring Cost Calculator",
  "category": "financial",
  "url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/learning-loss-recovery-cost",
  "summary": "Tutoring hours and cost needed to close a measured grade-level learning gap.",
  "description": "Districts and parents alike need to translate a diagnostic learning gap, expressed in months or grade levels behind, into an actual tutoring hours-and-dollars plan. This calculator uses a standard high-dosage tutoring recovery rate (research generally shows 1-2 months of grade-level gain per 10 hours of high-dosage tutoring) to estimate hours needed and multiplies by tutoring cost per hour to get a total recovery budget.",
  "formula": "Hours needed = (grade levels behind × 12 months) ÷ recovery months per 10 hours × 10. Total cost = hours × cost per hour.",
  "dateModified": "2026-09-30",
  "run_url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/api/public/calc?tool=learning-loss-recovery-cost",
  "inputs": [
    {
      "id": "gradeLevelsBehind",
      "label": "Grade levels behind",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 1,
      "unit": null,
      "min": 0.1,
      "max": 4
    },
    {
      "id": "recoveryRate",
      "label": "Months gained per 10 hours tutoring",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 1.5,
      "unit": null,
      "min": 0.5,
      "max": 4
    },
    {
      "id": "costPerHour",
      "label": "Tutoring cost per hour",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 45,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "studentsCount",
      "label": "Students needing this intervention",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 30,
      "unit": null,
      "min": 1,
      "max": null
    }
  ],
  "outputs": [
    {
      "id": "totalCost",
      "label": "Total program cost",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": true
    },
    {
      "id": "hoursNeeded",
      "label": "Hours needed per student",
      "format": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "costPerStudent",
      "label": "Cost per student",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "monthsBehind",
      "label": "Months of learning behind",
      "format": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    }
  ],
  "worked_example": {
    "inputs": [
      "Grade levels behind: 1",
      "Months gained per 10 hours tutoring: 1.5",
      "Tutoring cost per hour: 45 $",
      "Students needing this intervention: 30"
    ],
    "outputs": [
      "Total program cost: $108,000",
      "Hours needed per student: 80",
      "Cost per student: $3,600",
      "Months of learning behind: 12"
    ]
  },
  "how_to": {
    "title": "How to use this",
    "steps": [
      "Enter grade levels behind.",
      "Enter months gained per 10 hours tutoring.",
      "Enter tutoring cost per hour ($).",
      "Enter students needing this intervention.",
      "Read your total program cost on the right — it updates as you type.",
      "Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone."
    ]
  },
  "scenarios": [
    {
      "name": "Conservative",
      "description": "Lower-end numbers — what if things land soft?",
      "values": {
        "gradeLevelsBehind": 0.6,
        "recoveryRate": 0.8999999999999999,
        "costPerHour": 25,
        "studentsCount": 18
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Typical",
      "description": "Defaults — the most common real-world setup.",
      "values": {
        "gradeLevelsBehind": 1,
        "recoveryRate": 1.5,
        "costPerHour": 45,
        "studentsCount": 30
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Ambitious",
      "description": "Higher-end numbers — what if things really pop?",
      "values": {
        "gradeLevelsBehind": 1.6,
        "recoveryRate": 2.4000000000000004,
        "costPerHour": 70,
        "studentsCount": 48
      }
    }
  ],
  "limitations": [
    "Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.",
    "Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.",
    "This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant."
  ],
  "faq": [
    {
      "q": "How reliable is the '10 hours per month of gain' estimate?",
      "a": "It's a rough midpoint from high-dosage tutoring research (3+ sessions/week, small groups of 1-4 students), not a guarantee for any individual student. Group size, consistency, and subject matter all move the actual rate up or down."
    },
    {
      "q": "Does low-dosage tutoring (once a week) work the same way?",
      "a": "No — the research base behind this recovery rate specifically covers high-dosage, high-frequency tutoring. Once-a-week sessions show meaningfully slower gains per hour, so don't apply this same rate to a once-weekly program."
    },
    {
      "q": "Should this replace regular classroom instruction time?",
      "a": "No, high-dosage tutoring research assumes it's additive to core instruction, not a replacement for it. Pulling students out of core class time to tutor often erases part of the expected gain."
    },
    {
      "q": "How do we budget for multiple students at different gap levels?",
      "a": "Run this per gap-level band (e.g., all students 0.5-1 grade level behind together, then 1-2 behind separately) since hours needed scale with gap size and lumping everyone into one average distorts the total budget."
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/tutor-hourly-rate-utilization",
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/test-prep-score-gain-value"
  ],
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "citation": "RevenueLab — Learning Loss Recovery Cost Calculator (https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/learning-loss-recovery-cost)"
}