Access to tutors anywhere
TutorMate helps boost first-graders’ reading skills
When the phone rings in Denise Hollifield’s
classroom, her students can’t wait to talk to
the person on the other end.
Once a week for 30 minutes, working
professionals such as Joni Oleson at Bank of
America tutor students such as Jennifer Davila
Ruiz from Starmount Academy of Excellence.
The tutoring is made possible by the nonprofit
Innovations for Learning’s TutorMate program.
What makes the program unique is access:
Tutoring takes place over a headset and
computer, and volunteers can tutor from
anywhere there is internet access.
Tutors and students read stories together
online and play games that build student
vocabulary. Teachers monitor the students’
progress and update the literacy levels.
“Jennifer was shy when she started with
her tutor,” said Hollifield. “Being part of this
program has really boosted her confidence.
She has opened up a lot more in class and her reading has improved.”
Jennifer and Oleson met face to face for the first time during a recent
end-of-year celebration.
“I was really happy to meet my tutor. We did a lot of reading but my
favorite thing to do was play the Tic-Tac-Toe word game,” said Jennifer.
The game is played like Tic-Tac-Toe. The student must correctly say the
sight word in the box to be able to place an “x” or “o” on top of the word.
Oleson said Jennifer was very good at the game and took it a step
further.
“Jennifer would make up entire stories with the sight words,” said Oleson.
Heart Math Tutoring partners with CMS
Heart Math Tutoring
partners with CMS by
recruiting and supporting
volunteers to serve as one-
on-one tutors for students
who are behind in math.
Heart was initially created
as a partnership between
SVP Charlotte, CIS and CMS.
With just 2 schools and 120
volunteer tutors during the
2013/14 school year, Heart
has grown to support 17
schools with 980 volunteers
in the most recent 2017/18 school year.
Heart’s mission is to ensure that all elementary students develop the
strong foundation in math and enthusiasm for academics needed for long-
term success, by helping schools use volunteers as tutors. And, we are
looking for volunteers to serve as tutors to support 1,100 CMS students in
the 2018/19 school year. Just 30 minutes or 1 hour per week makes a huge
difference in the lives of our students!
With the support of an onsite coordinator, volunteers use an easy-to-
follow, proven curriculum featuring hands-on activities and games. Tutors
work one-on-one with students who are below grade level in elementary
math, assisting them with skills of counting up to single-digit multiplication.
98% of students tutored to date have met program growth goals, and 100%
of surveyed volunteers had a positive experience.
Interested volunteers can find available school locations/tutoring times
and sign up here. Feel free to reach out to Alexis Small, Community Relations
Manager, at [email protected] with any questions.
“It was really impressive and the stories were
very creative.”
Another tutor, David Ribar, just completed
his first year of participation in TutorMate.
Ribar, who also works for Bank of America,
found out about the program from a coworker.
He has enjoyed the experience so much he
plans to participate again next year. He was
paired with student Jorge Escalante Guzman,
who two years ago spoke no English.
“Reading comprehension has helped
him in all academic areas but it’s been most
emphasized in his mathematic skills,” said
Hollifield. “Jorge is a math whiz.”
But he’s enjoyed reading with Ribar, too.
“One day, Jorge told me his favorite
author was Ann Harth,” said Ribar. “When I
asked why he responded, ‘because I like the
books we read together and they’re almost all
by that author.’”
TutorMate has been used in CMS schools for three years. It began at
Starmount. In the second year, it was added at David Cox Road Elementary.
This year, the program was added at Druid Hills Academy and Bruns
Academy. Next year, it will expand to Allenbrook El ementary and Thomasboro
Academy. At each school, they tutor 10 students in every first grade class.
“There are many more schools we would love to serve,” said Emily Sagor,
Innovations for Learning program ambassador for Charlotte. “Ideally, we
want to serve all Title I schools at some point. We are always working to
expand our tutor base so we can expand to more schools.”
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Parent Teacher Magazine • September/October
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