Tutoring helps low-income families - Memphis City Schools

School Administrator, March, 2003

Memphis City Schools is the Tennessee winner of The Civic Star Award for a reading and math tutoring program for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The program is serving a school district where more than 70 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced-price meals and about 40 percent of the kindergarteners have never attended a preschool or day-care center.

The program, called Our Children--Our Future, began in September in 21 of the 64 schools identified the previous year by the Tennessee Board of Education as not meeting state standards. It represents a major collaboration among the Memphis City Schools, the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis and Volunteer Memphis, an organization with experience in large-scale volunteer management and links to volunteers throughout the area.

The collaboration began to evolve during the summer when school administrators designing the program learned that the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis wanted to support an educational initiative. The foundation was looking for an initiative that would benefit the entire community and help improve the academic performance of individual students and the school system as a whole, It committed $100,000 in matching funds for the program, and Volunteer Memphis joined in to provide its volunteer-management expertise.

In the fall, about 300 volunteers had received extensive teacher training and were assigned to meet with about 440 students. Representing a broad cross-section of Memphis citizens, the volunteers had to commit to tutor for the entire school year and agree to use materials carefully designed by district reading and math specialists to complement the school curriculum.

The tutors are being monitored throughout the year, and an outside evaluator has been retained to gauge the effectiveness of the program. Meanwhile, classroom teachers have already reported that they're seeing signs of success. For example, some have noticed students in the program reading better and being more willing to read aloud.

TO LEARN MORE CONTACT:

Johnnie B. Watson

Superintendent

Memphis City Schools

2597 Avery Ave. * Memphis, TN 38112

Phone: 901-325-5300

E-mail: crawfordj@memphis-schools.k12.tn.us

Web: www.memphis-schools.k12.tn.us