“Amanda tutoring program a hit with students (Middletown Journal)” plus 1 more

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Amanda tutoring program a hit with students (Middletown Journal) Posted: 15 Mar 2010 08:12 PM PDT By Marie Rossiter, Staff Writer 10:57 PM Monday, March 15, 2010 MIDDLETOWN — The first time Amanda Elementary principal Candace McIntosh got on the school intercom at 5 p.m. to dismiss students from their new after-school tutoring program, she got a response she never expected. "I figured they'd be pretty happy," McIntosh said. "I mean, it's 5 o'clock and they've been there in school all day. Instead, I could hear some of them all the way down here saying "Aww, I don't wanna leave!" This was the first of many surprises from the program. In previous years with other after-school programs, only 8 to 12 students participated; this year 95 students from grades three to five are enrolled, according to McIntosh. Teachers working in the tutoring program are seeing student attention spans actually improve during the after school sessions, as well as performance improving within the classroom. "Students who were hesitant to participate before are now more willing to raise their hand and answer questions in class," said Jessica Perry, a fifth-grade social studies and science teacher. "The small group environment has given them the confidence they need to be willing to try, and it is carrying over into their other classes." The tutoring program got its start at the end of January to help students identified as "at-risk" for low performance on the Ohio Achievement Assessments (formerly known as the Ohio Achievement Tests). After seeing success with a similar program she helped organize during her tenure at Talawanda schools, McIntosh decided it was time to bring the program to Amanda during her first year as principal. "We are in our fourth year of 'school improvement' status," McIntosh said. "We wanted to find a way to work with students in smaller groups to give them the attention they need to succeed." Amanda fifth grader Tanner Bowles thought he performed well on last year's math Ohio Achievement Assessments. Still, he struggled in his daily math class and became frustrated when he couldn't answer questions in class. "I mean, I know you have to at least try to participate to do well," Tanner said. "But, I didn't do it very often. After more than a month in Amanda new after school tutoring program, Tanner is well on his way to math mastery. "I am moving forward in math now," said Tanner. "I was very nervous about taking these tests, but now I feel more prepared. I like these classes because I think you have to what you can to better yourself." Tanner said he liked the small classes: the student to teacher ratio is no higher than 10 to 1. This is a strict guideline that is never compromised, according to McIntosh. "If we have any one call in sick, I have other teachers in our building ready to go," McIntosh said. "We have to do this to preserve the individual attention aspect of the program." Students in grades three through five alternate work with language arts and math every Tuesday and Thursday. Practice questions from the state tests are used as a guide to help teach the students not only the material covered in them, but also how to actually take the exam. "We give them strategies on how to tackle different types of reading and math questions," McIntosh said. "They alternate subject areas each day, use technology and manipulatives to solve problems. Really, it's almost the way we'd like to teach every day, if we could." McIntosh said the program is paid for out of federal Title 1 funding. Everything from teacher's stipends, providing student snacks and even bus transportation home is covered. "I think it's a wise way to spend our Title 1 funds," McIntosh said. "Parents who work just weren't able to get their kids here and back, so that has been essential to our enrollment success and keeping kids in the program." The Amanda staff said success won't only be defined by the students' scores on this year's assessments, which they hope will improve enough to met their Adequate Yearly Progress benchmark. "These students and the community need to feel as though they are winners and they can succeed if they try," McIntosh said. "I don't think that there has been that feeling here in a while. We hope this the first step in changing that mentality." Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Americorps tutoring local students (The Daily Democrat) Posted: 16 Mar 2010 02:38 AM PDT An AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps team is working in conjunction with the Woodland Joint Unified School District through March 31, in the Learning Centers of both Woodland High School and Pioneer High School as tutors for students in ninth and tenth grade. The NCCC members are assisting Woodland and Pioneer High Schools by serving as tutors in a variety of subjects, while focusing in math and English. The Learning Centers at both schools provides one on one attention to students falling behind in their core classes, in hopes that student performance will rise. AmeriCorps NCCC has had a presence in both schools since November 2009 and will continue through the end of the school year. The mission of the Woodland High School Community Service Learning Center and the Pioneer High School Learning Center is to help students stay in school, graduate, and embrace plans for their futures. The goal of both learning centers is to target students early in their high school careers (9th and 10th grade) to ensure that they have successful academic futures. Targeting students early reduces their likelihood of dropping out of high school and of receiving bad grades. Aside from providing academic support to students of all educational and cultural backgrounds, both learning centers also serve as safety-nets for students since they welcome cultural, educational, and social diversity. This team is one of six that are serving in the Sacramento area. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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