July 20, 2010

Counselor says tutoring program will soon be in need of funds

By Eileen Werbitsky, originally published in BuffaloNews.com on 5/10/10

A successful tutoring program in the Holland School District is in need of funding as federal stimulus funding that created it will dry up on June 30.

Melissa Wagner, guidance counselor and program coordinator, recently offered Holland School Board members a glimpse of the program’s success since its start-up in December.

Between January and March, tutoring users rose from 212 to 429 students. Overall hours spent with a tutor also increased, from 101 hours to 251 hours. The impact on student grade point average (GPA) was astounding, Wagner said.

High school students who were tutored on a regular basis, or at least once a week, increased their overall GPA by 4.8 percent. Tutored middle school students saw an overall increase of 2.8 percent, she said.

Program tutors are compensated at $5 per hour, which is paid through a Visa gift card. The program is supervised by three instructors, one for each of the district buildings, who are paid $20 per hour.

High School Principal James Biryla was quick to note that the tutors are not necessarily straight-A students, but that they rise to the occasion, and the partnership is mutually beneficial. “We tell the tutors, ‘You are an example to others,’ ” Deborah Tatar, high school teacher and program coordinator, said, “and it affects them.”

Among 21 students who regularly tutor at Holland, GPA increased 1.18 percent. Tatar added, “A lot of neat relationships have developed. When you come into the library, you can’t tell who is tutoring and who is being tutored.”

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Filed under: Academic Learning Centers,High School,Peer-Tutoring

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