What issue highlighted by Benjamin Bloom states that individual tutoring leads to significantly higher student performance?

The issue highlighted by Benjamin Bloom that indicates individual tutoring can lead to significantly higher student performance is known as the two-sigma problem. Bloom's research demonstrated that when students receive personalized instruction, such as one-on-one tutoring, their learning outcomes can improve dramatically—often outperforming those who receive traditional instruction in a classroom setting. This discrepancy is referred to as "two sigma" because the performance gains from tutoring can move the average student to two standard deviations above the mean performance level of students who learn through standard methods.

Bloom’s findings underscore the effectiveness of tailoring education to meet individual student needs, emphasizing the critical role of personalized support in enhancing learning outcomes. The two-sigma problem showcases the potential benefits of individualized learning environments and highlights the challenges of implementing such approaches on a larger scale, as achieving similar effects in conventional classroom settings remains a complex challenge.