Starting this summer there are more opportunities for UToledo students to gain valuable skills and contribute to the local community through mathematics and literacy tutoring! Led by Drs. Susanna Hapgood, Lynne Hamer, Rhonda Aguiton, Jason Cox, Michael Toland, Falynn Thompson and Marcella Kehus, and with funding from the Ohio Department of Education Statewide Mathematics and Literacy Tutoring Grant, UToledo students are paid tutors at EscuelaSMART Academy (in collaboration with TutorSmart) and at Old Orchard Elementary School.

Over the next two years, public school (K-8) learners will have received 17,756 total tutoring hours from trained University of Toledo students. Taking advantage of each school community’s assets and funds of knowledge, Fostering Literate Youth (FLY) at Old Orchard and Tutoria de Matematicas (TM) at EscuelaSMART Academy have been designed with the schools’ teachers and administrators to address specific needs each school has identified and that have only been exacerbated by the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

By maintaining low tutor-tutee ratios, and allowing for flexibility to have a variety of small group sizes and one-on-one tutoring, the program is responsive to learners’ needs. The tutoring work is also “high-dosage,” meaning learners have continuity and meet frequently with their tutors. There is growing evidence that this approach yields greater increases in learners’ capacities than just drop-in or once-a-week tutoring models.

The grant exemplifies the kind of close collaboration JHCOE seeks to have with local school partners. Prospective tutors should check the student employment site Handshake, and their UToledo emails for announcements and information about applying for tutoring positions.

As director of communications for Merit Network, Pierrette Dagg discovered an interest in combining social justice and technology, which fueled her decision to pursue a Ph.D.

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