Rex says
Money math without the spreadsheet headache. Plug in your numbers and I'll show you exactly where the dollars land.
Try a scenario
Click to load — tweak from there.Inputs
Result
Total program cost
$108,000
Hours needed per student
80
Cost per student
$3,600
Months of learning behind
12.0
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How to use this
- 1Enter grade levels behind.
- 2Enter months gained per 10 hours tutoring.
- 3Enter tutoring cost per hour ($).
- 4Enter students needing this intervention.
- 5Read your total program cost on the right — it updates as you type.
- 6Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone.
About this calculator
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.
Worked example
Using the values the calculator loads with:
Inputs
- Grade levels behind: 1
- Months gained per 10 hours tutoring: 1.5
- Tutoring cost per hour: 45 $
- Students needing this intervention: 30
Results
- Total program cost: $108,000
- Hours needed per student: 80
- Cost per student: $3,600
- Months of learning behind: 12
What each field means
Inputs
- Grade levels behind
- The grade levels behind used in the calculation. Starts at 1 so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 0.1–4.
- Months gained per 10 hours tutoring
- The months gained per 10 hours tutoring used in the calculation. Starts at 1.5 so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 0.5–4.
- Tutoring cost per hour ($)
- The tutoring cost per hour used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 45 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Students needing this intervention
- The students needing this intervention used in the calculation. Starts at 30 so you have a working example on load.
Results
- Total program cost
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars and shown as the headline result. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Hours needed per student
- Returned as a whole number. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Cost per student
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Months of learning behind
- Returned as a whole number. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
FAQ
How reliable is the '10 hours per month of gain' estimate?
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.
Does low-dosage tutoring (once a week) work the same way?
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.
Should this replace regular classroom instruction time?
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.
How do we budget for multiple students at different gap levels?
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.
Accuracy and 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.
Related tools
Cite this calculator
Writing about this topic? Grab a citation — every link helps keep these tools free.
RevenueLab. (2026). Learning Loss Recovery Cost Calculator. Retrieved from https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/learning-loss-recovery-cost
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/learning-loss-recovery-cost" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Learning Loss Recovery Cost Calculator — RevenueLab</a> (2026).</p>
Source: [Learning Loss Recovery Cost Calculator — RevenueLab](https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/learning-loss-recovery-cost) (2026).