Tutors are needed now to help Wake students catch up. Here’s how to volunteer.
Tutors can now volunteer for a new program that’s starting in September to help Wake County elementary students recover from pandemic learning loss.
The new WakeTogether program needs tutors to spend up to two hours a week working one-on-one and/or in small groups with students in second through fifth grades to help them with their reading skills.
Prospective tutors can go to waketogether.ymcatriangle.org to-register to become volunteers and to learn more about the program. Volunteers will undergo a background check and receive training before working with students.
The program is a partnership involving multiple groups, including the Wake County school system, the YMCA of the Triangle and the Boys & Girls Clubs.
“We know this is a giving and caring community that cares about their schools,” school board chairwoman Lindsay Mahaffey said during Tuesday’s presentation on the program.
High-dosage tutoring
The program comes amid research showing that the pandemic put students months and, in some cases, more than a year behind academically.
The Raleigh-based HELPS Education Fund helps schools improve the literacy skills of students using proven strategies such as focusing on phonics. The YMCA of the Triangle has been using the HELPS program with some Wake students since 2019.
Research has shown that “high-dosage tutoring” programs such as HELPS can be effective at helping students get caught up.
Teresa Jones told the school board that HELPS has given her more confidence than any other tutoring program she’s been involved with over the years. Jones, who is also the Wake County PTA Council president, said students have benefited from the consistency the program provides that can often be missing in their lives.
“They knew that every Tuesday and Thursday at 8:30 that Ms. Jones would be there to read with them,” Jones said.
Volunteer commitments
After passing the background check and signing a volunteer agreement, tutors will need to make some commitments, including:
▪ Tutor during or after school hours.
▪ Tutor one or two hours a week.
▪ Commit for at least one semester.
▪ Complete an hour virtual child safety training course.
▪ Complete the three-hour virtual HELPS fluency training program.
Tutors don’t need to have had prior experience working in a classroom, according to Kim Keith, vice president of youth development for the YMCA of the Triangle.
“They will be well trained by the HELPS education fund,” Keith said.
Volunteers will indicate their top three school choices and what day and time of the week they can tutor.
The district and community agencies will then match tutors with schools. But Keith said that volunteers who have been working with schools already will be able to stay there.
Volunteers will work with students in assigning supervised tutoring areas. Students will be identified for tutoring services based on an assessment that measures how fluent they are reading.
Starting at 50 schools
The program will start in September at 50 schools, which are about half of the district’s elementary schools. Keith said that the program will expand into more elementary schools once they get enough volunteers.
Keith also said that they want to offer tutoring in math and to expand the program into middle schools.
Drew Cook, assistant superintendent for academics, said school administrators will come back to the school board in September to request $1 million to start the tutoring program.
Tutoring and volunteering had been sharply reduced by the school district during the pandemic.
School board member Monika Johnson-Hostler said the program will help reintegrate schools to life post-COVID.
“We also know that those little people are going to have new adults who are committed to them,” Johnson-Hostler said. “Trust me, they love seeing new people, especially at that age.”
