Meet Pat and Paulette: Tutorpedia Parents

Pat and Paulette, parents from San Carlos, CA, explain how Tutorpedia tutors helped their daughter improve her confidence in school.

Thinking about a Masters In Education?

For those teachers or aspiring teachers thinking about graduate work in education, there are an overwhelming number of choices.  We've found a great website to help people navigate the many options available to students who are seeking masters-level work in education (which includes teacher credentialing programs).  Both of Tutorpedia's Directors have Masters degrees in education (from Harvard and Brown), and believe strongly in teachers and tutors who further their own education.

Check it out:  www.mastersineducation.com

Meet Frans: Tutorpedia Tutor

Frans studied chemistry in the Netherlands and has also earned his Masters in Education and teaching credential. Now he's in the Bay Area. When he's not playing soccer, Frans is working with students as a Tutorpedia tutor!

Meet Natalie, Rachel, and Ashley: Tutorpedia Foundation

Hear how Tutorpedia improved Rachel's and Ashley's academic success.

We Got Thumbtacked!

Thanks to Ashley and the good folks at Thumbtack.com for featuring Tutorpedia on their blog!  Thumbtack is a website whose goal is to connect people with trustworthy local services, and we're honored to be one of those services.  Tutorpedia is today's Thumbtack Spotlight - read about what sets us apart!

Tao: Tutorpedia's Holistic and Student-Centered Approach to Learning

Meet Mignone: Tutorpedia Parent

Listen to one of our parents explain why she chose Tutorpedia for all 3 of her kids. Thank you Mignone!

Changing Education Paradigms

A great animated video of how our education system got to where it is today, and why it's so important to reform it.

Oprah Winfrey on "Waiting for Superman"

There's a bold new movie out, "Waiting for Superman", and it's getting lots of press. Time launched their cover story with the movie; The New York Times wrote an article last week; and now Oprah is talking to Bill Gates and Davis Guggenheim, the director of the movie, about this film and its message. And she gave $1 million to various charter schools, including Lionel Wilson Prep in Oakland, an Aspire public school, and Summit Prep High School, in Redwood City (full disclosure, and proud note: Tutorpedia and the Tutorpedia Foundation work with both schools).

We will be getting a group of tutors together to see this movie soon. I won't comment on it before then, but I want to see what the hype is about. Your thoughts?

Want to make a difference?

Be a tutor. Be a mentor. There are so many students right now who need help with reading, writing, and math skills. Science literacy. Technology. College applications. They're behind with homework, studying for their exams, they could use a caring, experienced adult to walk them through their school work, to make it less daunting, to engage them in the learning process. Give a child that spark to succeed! Build a relationship with them that motivates them and encourages them to learn.

Right now Tutorpedia has openings at several Bay Area schools:

Summit Prep, a charter high school in Redwood City: M/W from 3-5pm tutoring pre-calculus and chemistry
Horace Mann, a public middle school in San Francisco: M from 2:30-3:30pm tutoring basic reading, writing, and math
Building Future Now, a nonprofit in East Palo Alto: schedule TBD (working with middle and high school students)
Mandela High School, a public school in Oakland: M from 3-6pm tutoring all math, English, and science

Tutorpedia is also looking for math/science/SAT tutoring in the East Bay, Peninsula and SF, and will have many more after-school programs (free tutoring for low-income students, paid for by the district) starting in the next few months. Please see http://tutorpedia.com/about/jobs.php for more info about our available jobs. If you are interested, send a cover letter to jobs@tutorpedia.com, and you can start filling out our job application here. And please pass this on to any of your interested friends and colleagues!

Back to School

Interesting article from the New York Times Magazine, Achieving Techno-Literacy. Kevin Kelly argues that "technology helped us learn, but it was not the medium of learning. It was summoned when needed." There is a rash of discussion about the need for more technology, ie. computers, in the classroom. But because of the rapidly changing nature of technology, the minute we learn a new tech device, it becomes obsolete. So he says it is not technology that we need to learn, but technological literacy - "proficiency with the larger system of our invented world" - and all the assumptions and limitations that technology provides.

Why all this talk about techno-literacy in September? It's back-to-school season, and that time of year always engenders the question, Why are we in school? What is the purpose of the 7:30-3:30 school day, classroom periods, tedious homework and stressful tests on a periodic cycle? To get good grades, high test scores, and accepted to college? To become productive citizens of society? To be technologically literate? To be, or not to be?

School is important for all these reasons and more. Studying is important, and parents have an effect on this. Very recent studies show that our thoughts on how we study best were all wrong. We don't want a static and sparse study hall, but what's better is a dynamic environment, with moving parts, in our learning experience - the more we have to remember, the better we learn. If parents don't have the extra time to help their kids, it's best to outsource some of those tasks. I am biased of course, but I spoke to a parent today who said that it was just not in her best interest to tutor her daughter - the math was beyond her, and she felt their relationship would be better if they spent time together doing other activities.

Kelly continues in his article, "Education, at least in the K-12 range, is more about child rearing thank knowledge acquisition. And since child rearing is primarily about forming character, instilling values and cultivating habits, it may be the last area to be directly augmented by technology." I couldn't agree more.

Meet Sarah: Math Tutor

Sarah, a Stanford STEP graduate, high school math teacher, and veteran Tutorpedia Tutor, explains why she loves working with Tutorpedia students.

Meet Marielle: Math and Science Tutor

Marielle, a Harvey Mudd graduate and Tutorpedia tutor, explains why she loves to work with students to help them better understand math and science.

Tutorpedia has really fine tutors!

San Francisco parent Geoff explains that it's the individual tutors that makes Tutorpedia's tutoring services great, and why he chose them to help his daughter improve on her SAT. Go to www.tutorpedia.com to see more parent testimonials.

Meet Kate: Berkeley parent who used Tutorpedia for 3 years

Berkeley parent Kate shares why she chose Tutorpedia after interviewing many different tutors and tutoring companies, and describes the relationship that her son formed with his tutor, Tutorpedia's Founder & CEO, Seth.

When it comes to increasing academic success, there is nothing more effective than personalized tutoring. Tutorpedia is founded on the belief that every student can benefit from a tutor. We at Tutorpedia are dedicated to providing students of all ages, grade levels, abilities, and incomes with exceptional learning experiences that will not only help you do better in school, but will also give you the intellectual tools to become lifelong learners, and be successful in school, work, and life.

Meet Liz: English and SAT Tutor

Liz, a Harvard graduate and Tutorpedia tutor, shares why she thinks tutoring is important.

When it comes to increasing academic success, there is nothing more effective than personalized tutoring. Tutorpedia is founded on the belief that every student can benefit from a tutor. We at Tutorpedia are dedicated to providing students of all ages, grade levels, abilities, and incomes with exceptional learning experiences that will not only help you do better in school, but will also give you the intellectual tools to become lifelong learners, and be successful in school, work, and life.

The Teenage Brain

David Taus, Tutorpedia's Director of Education, talks with high school Seniors at City College of San Francisco about teenagers' brains and how understanding our brains can help us do better in school. This excerpt is part of a Tutorpedia Talk, a FREE educational speaking engagement given by Tutorpedia's Directors, who are both credentialed teachers, graduates of Harvard, Stanford, and Brown, and have a combined 30+ years of teaching and tutoring experience.

To learn more about Tutorpedia Talks, please visit www.tutorpedia.com. If you're interested in having David and Seth speak with your organization, please email david@tutorpedia.com.

Set up for failure

Another great post from our Summer Intern. Thank you Heidi for your great work!

The New York Times recently published the article "Schools Are Given a Grade on How Graduates Do" which really hit home for me. The article touched on how New York Public School graduates are not ready for college-level classes and why these districts should be informed of their graduates' performance in college. Manhattan Community College student Sharasha Croslen's story mirrored that of mine, she was placed in a remedial math class because she lacked the basic skills necessary to succeed in college-level math. I also took remedial math last year and understand the frustration she felt over not understanding something I should have learned in high school. In fact, I felt embarrassed and scared that I would not even pass these basic classes, so I can deeply sympathize with students like Ms. Croslen. Although the New York school district is graduating high school students, they are not prepared for higher education, which is a problem I gather is common in public school districts. For students who already feel intimidated and out of place in college because of their of class standing, not being able to understand their coursework becomes the final straw leading working-class students to drop out of college. I think it would be incredibly beneficial for these schools to gain information regarding the number of their graduates placed into these remedial classes, and also the percentage that graduate from college. I sincerely hope that maybe if these districts learn how much they are failing their students they will take some steps to solving this problem.

How can educational standards be the same for everyone if we all learn differently?

From our Summer Intern, Heidi:

The daily journal recently published an article "Math standards cheered-with some concern" which really caught my attention. As a person who is less than stellar at mathematics, I felt saddened by what I read. California recently adopted the Common Core Standards "which makes small changes to the English curriculum and introduce[s] algebra to students earlier." Students in the state of California will be required to take algebra 1 in eighth grade, rather than having the option to take it later in high school. I was disheartened by this because I struggled with algebra 1 in high school and even now in college. If it weren't for the basic math class I took in eighth grade, I would have lacked the skills necessary to progress to algebra. Everyone learns at their own pace and we all possess different strengths. I wouldn't have been able to pass an algebra class in middle school; however, that in no way reflects my abilities as a student overall. I am entering my second year of college in a few weeks, and I am proud to say I have received straight A's in all of my college courses. I do not want to see a student be denied access to high school or college because they are not proficient in every subject when they are talented in others.

Quality Education for All!

From our Summer Intern, Heidi:

In the recently published New York Times article "A School District That Takes the Isolation Out of Autism," Garner Moss (a teenage boy with autism) in the Madison school district shows how including disabled children in classes with regular students can yield positive results. Despite experiencing some troubles in his daily life, (such as tying his track shoes) Moss possesses many other talents. Unfortunately, the funding for the Madison school district is being cut, which puts Moss's education in jeopardy. This is because in order to attend regular classes and succeed as an athlete, Moss often needs an aide to assist him. Nonetheless, it would undermine the purpose of public education in America for him to receive less of an education than he deserves. He is attending school in order to become a contributing member of society; however, he can not do so without being socialized around regular students. It is crucial that adolescents with disabilities such as Moss continue to receive the help they need if the United States wants to be not only a socially just nation, but also a globally competitive one.

SAT prep workshops begin July 26th!

Don't miss out on this opportunity to conquer the SAT test! Within just TEN SESSIONS you can improve your score!

Looking to improve your math score, but scared to death of geometry? Can't ever remember anything from those long, 'boring' critical reading passages? Hate writing, or feel that you have a limited vocabulary? This class will simplify all of that, making it easier for you.

What if I told you there is a proven strategy to master the SAT?

What if I told you that the 'intimidation' most people associate with the SAT can be overcome, and that, come test day, you will be brimming with confidence, certain that you will do well !

This class focuses on reorienting your mind toward the SAT by breaking down each section and showing the secrets to 'SAT thinking.' Students learn that the SAT has a pattern that can be learned, like many other standardized tests. We do a wealth of diverse sample problems to ensure each student's comfort with the patterns and expectations of the SAT. You'll know exactly what to expect, and exactly what the SAT wants from you. The result: extreme confidence, no more intimidation !

Don't let Chemistry scare you!

Tutorpedia's chemistry workshops make science interesting and easy to understand. Classes begin July 26th so sign up now!

Headstart to Chemistry Excellence is a workshop that will prepare students for success in high school chemistry courses. It will be taught by an experienced Chemistry Workshop Instructor, and will include an in depth look at fundamental chemistry principles using easy-to-understand problems. This interactive, project-based workshop will focus on how students can overcome common pitfalls that happen at all levels of chemistry, and strengthen students' core understanding of essential topics in chemistry. Examples of these topics include dimensional analysis, bonding theory, chemical formulas, and more. Students will develop strategic study skills that will enable them to efficiently study for future courses in high school and college. In addition, they will leave the workshop with a study guide they created to assist them with their upcoming chemistry course. This workshop will benefit students tremendously, giving them the confidence and understanding they need to excel in high school chemistry!

Improv Comedy workshop starts this month!

Hurry! Space is limited for Tutorpedia's Improv Comedy workshop! Classes begin on July 26th

Ever wanted to be hilarious? Well, this is your chance! Veteran actor, writer-director and arts educator Joshua Williams is offering an Introduction to Improv Comedy workshop that's guaranteed to have you booked at Second City in no time. We'll start with the absolute basics -- character-creation and mime -- and work up towards full-fledged set pieces the likes of which can be seen on Who's Line Is It, Anyway?

Throughout, we will used an approach derived from the Theatre Games methodology pioneered by Viola Spolin -- which means our sessions will be zany, action-packed and fun! Whether you're an experienced performer or a total newbie -- if you love thinking on your feet and making people laugh, this is the class for you!

Master the Art of Essay Writing! Workshops begin July 12!

Does the thought of writing an essay give you anxiety? It doesn't have to; mastering this essential academic skill is easier and more fun than you think. If you're looking to get a head start on your high school writing requirements, or would just like to refine your techniques to master the 10 page essay in a night, this workshop is for you. In this workshop, you will get a chance to work through the formats and conventions of several different types of essays from expository to epistolary, as well as develop your skills using persuasive evidence and literary interpretation. You'll also master the nuts and bolts of the five-paragraph format, which you'll find useful when you take the SAT or write your college application essay. This course offers a plethora of writings from a diverse pantheon of writers to enable students to see all the fun they've been missing out on in their previous essay-writing. Particular emphasis will be placed on the expressive nature of language itself, while several stylistic conventions (from hyperbole to poetic invocation) will be taught and practiced by students as you critique one another's work.

Brush up on your writing skills while having fun!

BEGINNING FICTION WRITING CLASSES START JULY 12TH!

Like to use your imagination? Like telling stories that crack-up your friends or leave a stranger gripped and wanting more? Like to read cool things? If so, then you'll be interested in writing fiction. Maybe you already write, or maybe you just want to try it out--either way this is the place for you. In my workshop you will learn the essential elements of writing fiction that will be the foundation you build upon whether you want to write serious literary fiction or fun genre fiction like sci-fi and fantasy. You will see that being a good writer begins with being a good reader. In addition to looking at the work of professional fiction writers for tips and tricks, we will be "workshopping" each other's stories. Workshopping is the core feature of any serious creative writing class and "to workshop" means that you will read your classmaters' stories carefully and thoughtfully and afterwards offer supportive feedback and constructive criticism. In return you will receive the same invaluable help from them. Everyone will have the chance to have a draft of his or her story workshopped by the class with the intention being that the feedback you receive will help you to write a stronger second draft. The completion of this revised draft of your story is the end project of the class. On the last day, we will compile everyone's stories to create an on-line literary journal.

Be Prepared for the SAT test!

HURRY! SAT workshops begin Monday June 21st!

Looking to improve your math score, but scared to death of geometry? Can't ever remember anything from those long, 'boring' critical reading passages? Hate writing, or feel that you have a limited vocabulary? This class will simplify all of that, making it easier for you.

What if I told you there is a proven strategy to master the SAT?

What if I told you that the 'intimidation' most people associate with the SAT can be overcome, and that, come test day, you will be brimming with confidence, certain that you will do well !

This class focuses on reorienting your mind toward the SAT by breaking down each section and showing the secrets to 'SAT thinking.' Students learn that the SAT has a pattern that can be learned, like many other standardized tests. We do a wealth of diverse sample problems to ensure each student's comfort with the patterns and expectations of the SAT. You'll know exactly what to expect, and exactly what the SAT wants from you. The result: extreme confidence, no more intimidation !

Summer Guitar Workshop

 Sign up now! Tutorpedia's summer guitar workshop starts on Monday June 21st

Everyone has their own song to sing, but few people actually do it. In the age of sampled production and Guitar Hero video games, fewer and fewer people have a good idea as to what it takes to actually make music. If you have a song that you and your guitar want to get out to the world, then this is the workshop for you! In this workshop, we will work on skills that will make you a better guitarist and songwriter. We will use the music of the Beatles (or other modern popular music) as a springboard to examine what makes a good song, certain aspects of music theory, how to play by ear, how to jam with ensembles, how to improvise, and more. We will work on putting original twists to well-known songs, selecting songs to work on in duets, and eventually you will be writing and recording your own songs that you can post to the Internet for the world to hear! This workshop is intended for beginners, but all styles and ability levels are welcome. You will need to supply your own guitar. The workshop will be for acoustic instruments only.

A Summer of Enriching Learning Experiences!

Summer is just around the corner! For students, summer is a great opportunity to try new things and participate in fun activities. It's a time to relax, but it should also be a time that is full of enriching learning experiences.

This summer, we are very excited to offer over 30 workshops that are designed to be fun and engaging, but also to build essential skills that students can use in school, work, and life. Every workshop culminates in a final project or performance that they’ll be able to share with peers, parents, friends, and the world. In the coming weeks, The Thick Envelope will feature posts about our workshops that will be offered this summer.

We are happy to hold our summer workshops at Sacred Heart Prep in Atherton, CA from June 7 - August 6. There will be four sessions of workshops. Each session lasts two weeks (June 7-18, June 21-July 2, July 12-23, July 26-Aug 6) and has a morning (10am-12pm) and afternoon (1pm-3pm) period, so there’s plenty of opportunity for students to take more than one workshop!

Tutorpedia Workshops are:

• Real (Project-based). At the end of every workshop, students will have made, done, performed, accomplished, or completed something that they can show to their family and friends.
• Relevant (Authentic). Students will not just be learning about something; they will be actively constructing their understanding and skills in a real context.
• Rigorous (but fun). Workshop authors have chosen the topics they are teaching. Not only are they passionate about their subject matter, they are experts in teaching it.
• Built on Relationships (Personalized). Like Tutorpedia’s 1-1 tutoring, small-group workshops take into account the needs and wants of every student who participates. Enrollment in workshops is kept small to ensure that nobody gets left behind or slips through the cracks. Workshops typically involve 6-10 students and last 12-20 hours (6-10 two hour sessions), but they can be as long or as short as the author wants.
• Enriching. Students cultivate essential skills and habits of mind in a fun, extracurricular context, and they have the chance to work collaboratively with peers who share their interests

Tutorpedia's summer workshops are a great and affordable learning opportunity for students that will help them keep their minds sharp, meet other students from all over the Bay Area, and have a great time learning this summer. For more information, or to enroll, please call us at (415) 948-1585, email davidtaus@tutorpedia.com, or visit our website.

Hope to see you this summer!

The Thick Email: Dealing with Acceptance (and Rejection)

There's a great article in the Huffington Post last month posted by the Dean of Undergraduate Admissions of Yale University, giving good advice to those who are now receiving their letters and emails from the myriad schools to which they applied. The entire article can be found here, but the main points are worth repeating for those who are in the process of dealing with what to do next...

• There is one and only one good answer to any rejection letter you receive, dream school or not: "Your loss, baby."
  
• Every one of your colleges has infinitely more opportunities to offer than you could pursue in a lifetime
• Wipe out every assumption you have made up to this point about these schools
• Go back for another visit to the schools you are seriously considering
• Ask those you know and care about to give you their honest impressions of the schools that admitted you
  
• Think about who is funding your college, and go back to make sure the finances still add up
• Remember above all else that no college is going to be paradise, and that all colleges have something truly outstanding to offer you

It's all about finding the right fit. Whether a romantic relationship, a full-time job, or where you'll spend the next few years of your life - find the right fit for you.

College Roundatble #4

This month's Roundtable question is posed to Matt Spooner, admissions officer at American Jewish University:

How has the economy affected admissions decisions, enrollment decisions, and financial aid determinations at your school? More specifically, has your school admitted more students or fewer, have you seen enrollment increase or decrease, and have you given more or less financial aid since the downturn?

While the economy hasn’t impacted the way AJU’s Admissions Team arrives at admissions decisions, we have noticed a significant climb in the number inquiries about scholarships and financial aid from prospective students and their families. This trend, coupled with our sensitivity toward the financial strain that so many of us are facing, has resulted in us giving more financial aid in recent years. In fact, AJU was recently recognized as one of the top 13 colleges and universities on The Princeton Review’s “Financial Aid Rating Honor Roll,” a first for our university and a sign that we’re working our way through some very difficult financial straits.

As a private institution with a solid financial grounding, AJU has been able to weather the downturn quite well. On average, we’ve admitted and enrolled more students over the past few months than we have during the past few years. Much of this can be attributed to our ability to be generous with scholarships and financial aid, a “must have” even for a low-tuition high-discount university like AJU.

New Website - Videos, Books, & Summer Workshops!

Check out our new website: www.tutorpedia.com.













View our new videos, books, and sign up for summer workshops at Sacred Heart Prep.

And for reflection...

What Do Teachers Make?

For anyone who has taught, or anyone who has been taught: watch this.

Hybrid Learning: The Future of Tutoring & Web 2.0

Check out Fast Company's Anya Kamenetz's response about the future of tutoring in the age of technology: http://diyubook.com

Scroll down a bit to watch it.



There is a hybrid nature of tutoring with the rise of Web 2.0 software and infrastructure. I'm a big fan of open-source, free online models of learning, but I contend that it will never - and should never - replace the face-to-face relationships that develop from live, in-person, one-on-one tutoring.

Making Up for losing Race to the Top

It recently became public knowledge that the state of California will not be receiving any federal money through the Department of Education's Race to the Top Fund. While this doesn't seem like front-page news at first glance, it means that California effectively lost any chance to receive over $4.3 billion in funding for education.

This couldn't come at a worse time for California. The state is slashing education budgets for school districts statewide, and the hardest hit school districts are often the ones most in need of extra support. Meanwhile, policymakers are engaged in what one San Francisco newspaper called "education squabbling," which results in an amount of inaction that isn't enabling students to access the resources that they need in order to succeed in school.

It's clear that the state of California needs some help when it comes to educating its public school students. This is where third-party partnerships come into play: California's public school districts could only benefit from forging partenerships with education nonprofits (and even quality education for-profit companies) in order to pick up the slack that's been created by shortcomings in the State's bid for more money. Programs such as the Tutorpedia Foundation's Class of One initiative (in which the neediest students are paired with their own professional tutor for an entire school year), funded by philanthropic organizations and private donations, represent the sort of collaboration that needs to happen if California is to see its public education system safely through these difficult economic times.

The Solution to SFUSD Budget Cuts

In the news today: San Francisco Unified School District is facing $113 million in budget cuts for the upcoming school year. This is especially distressing, considering that the State and the Federal Government announced that larger sums of money would be available to school districts in need via programs like Race to the Top. To make matters worse, these budget cuts will most greatly affect the urban students who are already at a socioeconomic disadvantage.

San Francisco’s children deserve better than increased class sizes, underpaid teachers, and cuts in materials budgets. In order to make up for the impending shortfalls in students’ school experiences, we'd like to propose a comprehensive tutoring program to be implemented and woven into the fabric of San Francisco’s hardest hit schools. Personalized tutoring – a “Class of One” – would go a long way towards effectively supporting classroom instruction in a climate such as this. Providing tutoring for San Francisco’s most deserving and needy students is not as expensive as most think; the Tutorpedia Foundation can provide high quality tutoring to SFUSD students for about $1,000/year. Moreover, the implementation of a tutoring program enables the district to appeal to other sources of funding (ASES grants with the state, corporate foundations, private donations) in order to provide this service if they contract with local nonprofits.

It’s clear that public money will not close the achievement gap and level the academic playing field for San Francisco’s students. It’s time for public school districts to get creative about how to best educate students, and partner with local nonprofit organizations in order to give kids the personalized academic attention they desperately need.

Diversity in School

We are published again in the Almanac, as a letter to the editor made press!

I said that taking away the opportunity for mostly low-income students from Ravenswood to attend Menlo Park schools would be a big mistake.

Instead of being a burden on the school district, opening up enrollment would improve the district's financial situation by enabling Menlo Park to apply for soon-to-be available federal and state funding for low-income (Title 1) and under-performing (Program Improvement 2) students through Bush's No Child Left Behind program and Obama's Race to the Top initiatives. The best use of those funds is to make education more personal - for one-on-one tutoring. Instead of limiting opportunity, opening doors to out-of-district students would create a well-balanced, diverse, and more authentic learning atmosphere for everyone.

The Purpose of Education

The Purpose of Education, according to Dr. King

Education and freedom go hand in hand. Through education, we gain exposure to new and old knowledge, new and old ideas, new and old philosophies. We train our minds to think critically, grow and expand, and with each addition we become better equipped to make our own decisions, find our passions, change our own lives, and change the world. In many ways, a solid education is the key to great personal and social power in our society.

But as Uncle Ben says, “With great power comes great responsibility.” We’ve just celebrated the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, so it seems appropriate to meditate today on what he said in 1948, in a speech at Morehouse College about the Purpose of Education.

He said, “The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. But education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals.”

On Dr. King’s day, as we reflect on the suffering and inequality in our world, we have to think of how far we’ve come, but also how far remains for us to go. Whether we are considering the immense suffering of the people in Haiti, or the suffering that exists in our local school system, it would do us good to keep in mind the question Dr. King posed in his famous speech, I Have Been to the Mountaintop:

The question is not, “If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?” The question is, “If I do not stop to help this man in need, what will happen to him?”

Closing the Achievement Gap in Berkeley

KQED's Forum recently did a piece about Berkeley High School's science lab courses. Apparently, BHS holds science labs for basic science courses after regular school hours. It is incredible to me that a core component of an academic subject has been relegated to an after school time slot. The program explained that this has been done in order to better access money that will help to close the achievement gap between white students and students of color at BHS.

This was my response, one that was read on-air during Forum:

I am saddened that students' science lab experience has been relegated to an after school activity, and am incensed that it's even being considered that they be cut. Denying students this basic learning experience not only puts them at an incredible disadvantage when it comes to school achievement, it puts them on unequal ground with other students who have access to such resources. Science education is not a luxury, and cuts to science education will only increase the achievement gap. This may not be evident by the data being used, because many standardized tests do not measure science content. We need to move past using STAR tests as a measure of student achievement, take a more holistic view of what education means, and support the achievement of all students in all content areas. Do not cut core academic resources for underperforming students; doing so can only increase the achievement gap.

If we want to close the achievement gap, we need to give more instructional time to core academic subjects for all students, not take it away or relegate it to an after-school timeslot.

Pepsi Refresh Everything Project

Check out the Pepsi Refresh Everything Project for Tutorpedia's "Class of One" idea and VOTE for us beginning February 1st!

We are asking for $50,000 to provide 1-1 tutoring to 50 low-income students in San Francisco. That would mean each student gets 28 weeks of tutoring, one hour per week, for the entire school year. Data shows (ours and others) that 1-1 tutoring improves grades, test scores, school attendance, confidence, and motivation. Parents and teachers report better interactions with adults, and the best learning takes place when a trusting and respectful relationship has been built. More personalized learning - bringing a "Class of One" to students - is the best investment in education.

1-1 Tutoring Gets Press!

Check us out in USA Today and in The Oakland Tribune!

Lots of federal money at stake now in Race to the Top funds... upwards of $700 million for California! Let's hope our districts and legislators make the best investment - more personalized education and 1-1 tutoring.