Thursday, August 5, 2010

“Tutoring program bridges gap between sports and education” plus 2 more

“Tutoring program bridges gap between sports and education” plus 2 more

Tutoring program bridges gap between sports and education

Posted: 05 Aug 2010 09:30 AM PDT

Pompano Beach will again offer an after-school tutoring program for student-athletes at city parks, starting this fall.

The Pour Penmanship tutoring program, now entering its sixth year as an after-school tutoring provider, aims to help student athletes keep pace academically.

The free program is offered to all student athletes who attend school in Pompano Beach and receive a free or reduced-price lunch. Students can attend 21 sessions, according to Mark Beaudreau, Pompano's recreation administrator. The tutoring takes place at city parks, including Kester Park, Highlands Park, Mitchell Moore, North Broward Park, Pompano Community Park Center and Ronald E. McNair Park.

Pour Penmanship is a for-profit corporation that receives federal assistance in order to provide free tutoring to students.

"Anytime we can offer [the] athletes … in our community additional educational activities, I think that's a great thing," Pompano Mayor Lamar Fisher said.

Beaudreau, the city's recreation administrator, said the tutoring program at city parks is the first of its kind.

"I'm looking at this as a tremendous opportunity to provide tutoring services for our student athletes," he said.

The tutoring program is run by Ardonnis Lumpkin, principal at Paragon Elementary Charter School and Pompano Charter Middle.

Lumpkin said he started the program because he saw a disparity between athletic opportunities and education. Lumpkin said he wants to help make college a priority, and by providing tutoring services, he said he thinks that is possible.

The idea, Lumpkin said, is to "merge [athletics] with the academic component, so that we can dangle it in front of them and trickle in learning in the process."

City Commissioners recently decided to offer the tutoring program through March, with Vice Mayor George Brummer and Commissioner Rex Hardin voted against awarding the licensing agreement that would allow for the program to continue.

During the decision process, Brummer said he felt the city should not be in the education business. Hardin, meanwhile, said he didn't have a problem with the program, but that he didn't support Pour Penmanship banners being placed at various parks and the company's logo being added to athletes' uniforms.

"In order to be fair to everybody, if we're going down that road, shouldn't we open it up?" Hardin asked about allowing the company to advertise on uniforms.

Beaudreau said it's not unprecedented to allow the company to advertise without a bidding process and that it's similar to allowing an aerobics class at a community center.

"Usually, a bid process is when the city is paying for a service," Lumpkin noted. "We are providing a service to the city for no cost to the city or to the city's residents."

Mayor Fisher and Commissioners Barry Dockswell and Woody Poitier voted in favor of offering the tutoring services. Commissioner Charlotte Burrie was absent from the meeting.

"All we're being asked to do is to provide the interconnection between a free tutoring service and our student athletes," Dockswell said. "We've got a distinguished resident who's willing to provide a free service to our residents."

For more information on Pour Penmanship, call 954-445-0692.

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Free Tutoring

Posted: 04 Aug 2010 03:13 PM PDT

Some students in Alachua County may be eligible to transfer to a different public school or receive free tutoring.

Free tutoring, federally funded under the No Child Left Behind Act, will be more selective this year.

The county can only provide 780 students with the free service, compared to the 1,800 that were tutored last year.

"Get application in on time, because once we reach our maximum, all the remaining children will go on a waiting list, we will have to prioritize, as some students will exit the program and we can add other students, but the critical piece is, get your application in on time for the tutoring, said Dr. Charles Hall, Director of the county's Title I schools.

Students attending Title I schools that have not made "adequate yearly progress" may accept the free tutoring, or transfer to a higher performing school.

Parents need to get their application in by September 3 for the free tutoring that starts in October.

Qualifying families are being sent paperwork, or can pick up the application next week at their child's school.

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Tutoring program to expand at DeVargas Middle

Posted: 04 Aug 2010 08:41 PM PDT

Some students at DeVargas Middle School will see much more of their school this coming school year.

Citizen Schools, a national organization that partners with communities to lift failing schools, thinks that's a good thing.

When classes start Aug. 23, some 135 seventh-graders and 30 eighth-graders at DeVargas will get extra time after school for tutoring and apprenticeship programs. The extra two hours a day, until 5:30 p.m. four days a week, is the result of a partnership between the Santa Fe schools and Citizen Schools.

Sue Goodwin, Citizen Schools' New Mexico operations executive director, said the program has been in place at DeVargas for three years, but now it will be serving more students.

"We're growing," Goodwin said, noting that previously the program served 60 to 70 students. "That's all we had funding available for, and now we've been able to grow that to 160 this coming school year. We're anticipating that we will be serving all grade-seven students."

The program is optional, and parents will be able to sign up during registration.

Diane Garcia Piro, DeVargas principal, who was formerly Capshaw Middle School assistant principal, has seen how extended-day programs can benefit students.

"The (programs) that I've been familiar with have been highly successful," Garcia Piro said. She said she's seen the improvement in proficiency statistics from other Citizen Schools programs. "We're hoping to be able to replicate that here at DeVargas."

The DeVargas program is funded with a state 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant. Goodwin said the organization is also hoping to receive funding from the federal government.

DeVargas Middle School, and the two middle schools with the program in Albuquerque, were chosen because all were designated "high need." The majority of DeVargas students are Hispanic; 85 percent are economically disadvantaged, recent state data indicate.

Bobbie Gutierrez, superintendent of Santa Fe Public Schools, believes the initiative is the future of middle schools and hopes the program can expand to Ortiz Middle School.

Goodwin said extended time in an academic setting has helped students nationally. Citizen Schools maintains that a Boston Middle School improved sixth-grade proficiency rates using a similar program over three years. Math scores rose from 15 percent proficient to 37 percent; and in English language arts they rose from 27 percent to 49 percent proficient.

Students will be partnered with volunteer professionals for apprenticeships that get them thinking about college and the future, Goodwin said. Other volunteers come from Genzyme, a biomedical company, Assistance Dogs of the West and SITE Santa Fe, she said.

"Our mandate is to prevent dropouts and be proactive and preventative and get these kids really excited about learning," Goodwin said. "The apprenticeships get kids considering real career options."

Parents can sign their students up for the program at the DeVargas registration, which is from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 11 for seventh-graders and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 12 for eighth-graders.

"For parents, it's really great," Goodwin said. "I'm a working mom, and you get home and your kids say, 'Help me with my homework.' You've had a long day, and that's the last thing you want to do."

Contact Ana Maria Trujillo at 986-3084 or atrujillo@sfnewmexican.com.

IF YOU GO

What: Information session about the Santa Fe Public Schools and Citizen Schools partnership
When: 6 to 7 tonight
Where: DeVargas Middle School cafeteria, 1720 Llano St.

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