Less than two hours a week.
In that time, a Reading Corps or Math Corps tutor can help elementary schools meet grade-level standards.
Tutors target students in the gaps, said Lauren Buckentine, program manager for the St. Cloud Office of Minnesota Reading Corps and Minnesota Math Corps.
Here’s how she describes the gap: The group in the middle — the students who aren’t quite meeting grade-level standards but aren’t so behind they qualify for special education or other services.
These are the kids who would otherwise slip through the cracks. By providing a boost now, they can keep kids at grade level, instead of watching them fall more and more behind.
And it works.
The program is in need of more tutors than it had in the past.
The programs use the AmeriCorps model to recruit, hire and place tutors. Schools and other groups apply to host tutors. Tutors need only a high school degree and to be 18 years old to apply.
Tutors go through interviews and are screened before going to a four-day intense training in Minneapolis. They also have three one-day training sessions in St. Cloud.
Last year, St. Cloud State University graduate Katie Johnson was one of them. She was looking for a way to spend more time in a school setting while she worked toward her teaching license and started applying for jobs in elementary school education.
