tutoring 101.... ...,or, using tutorial to... ...transform your school one student at a time
TRANSCRIPT
Tutoring 101...
...,or, using tutorial to...
...transform your school one student at a time.
Tutorial: It's not “tutoring.”
“Tutoring”
extra/homework help
after school
optional/drop-in
just for struggling kids
“give a child a fish”
“Tutorial”
1-1 (or 1-2) instruction sessions
Individually planned
Scheduled and Mandatory
Skills-based
Goal and assessment driven
“Teach a child to fish”
Tutoring can (but frequently does not) help a child.
Tutorial can (and does!) transform a school.
Why is tutorial transformative? (some theories)
Time-honored
– Socrates
– Mark Hopkins on one end of a log and a student on the other
Feedback vs. Instruction (aka Bloom's Taxonomy):
– Higher order skills requires low ratio of expert feedback to instruction. Occurs most effectively in group setting..
– Lower order skills require high ratio of feedback to instruction. Occurs more effectively in 1-1 setting.
Moves the “bell curve” of skills.
“I'm teaching theme to my 10th graders this year!”
Crucial Success Factors
High Quality Oversight
“Professionalization” of Tutors
One-on-one (or one-on-two)
Frequent formative assessments
“Tutors for All”
Leveraging subsidies for service
High Quality Oversight
Your program manager will be hiring, training, and managing a staff of between 20-100 college students and volunteers.
Essentially an administrator of a school within a school – equivalent of “department head.”
Choose your staff accordingly – not a job for a first-year college graduate.
“Professionalization” of Tutors
Extensive Training
Student Accountability
Professionalism
Curriculum and Instruction
Collaboration
Tutor efficacy
Leadership opportunities
Tutor teams
Promotions (career path)
Lead tutors
Coordinators
Curriculum specialists
Retention of best tutors
One-on-one (or one-on-two)
Frequent formative assessments
“Show What You Know” every two weeks
Recognize growth and proficiency
Motivating for students
Motivating for tutors
Keeps both focused on the goals: “teach to the test”
“Tutors for All”
Removes stigma.
Cohort Effect (lift all boats and the tide will rise to fill the gap) in classrooms.
Significant economies of scale (programs serving 100 kids are half the cost per student of programs serving 20 kids).
Makes scheduling easier
Leveraging “subsidies” for service
Work-study
– Federal government pays between 50 and 100% of tutor salaries.
Service Learning
– Student receives course credit for serving as a tutor.
Americorps/Mass Commonwealth Corps
– Range of opportunities, from 400 hours a year to full-time.
Motivated (and motivating) volunteers.
Costs are significant...
“Tutors for Some”Roughly $2000 per student per year for 60 hours of tutorial.
“Tutors for All”80 Students = $1115 per student for 70 hours of tutorial (includes summer)
180 Students = $830 per student For 70 hours of tutorial (includes summer)
… but so are funding opportunities!
Entitlements: Tutors for All programs are “shovel-ready” for ARRA - TI and a host of other DESE-administered entitlements:
Title One
RTI
IDEA
Competitive Grants: Tutors for All programs applied for and received over $150,000 in competitive grants in FY08,
including:$64,000 from Massachusetts Service Alliance
$25,000 from Peabody Foundation
$30,000 from DOE through CPSS program.
Interested in learning more?
Contact:
Mark Destler
Founder, Tutors for All
www.tutorsforall.org
617 504 6021