What Training (and When) Helps Tutors Be Effective?

Needs assessment. When designing a training plan, it's important to start at the beginning. Conducting a needs assessment is crucial to determining what training topics will be most useful to tutors, as well as the areas in which they feel they need the most support. A needs assessment can also provide information on what kinds of training volunteer tutors have received in the past and their perceived challenges, strengths, and weaknesses. Involving project site(s) and school teachers in your needs assessment can further strengthen the training plan. Project STAR (www.projectstar.org) and the National Service Resource Center (www.NationalServiceResources.org) have sample assessment surveys available on their Web sites.

Training content. Our interaction with education projects across the country during the last four years has exposed us to a rich array of local and regional models for tutor training. Below, we’ve organized common training topics into four general areas or tracks.

• Program Operation—training related to your project, its goals, and your connection with national service
• School or Site Culture—training to help tutors and mentors interact with, and contribute to, the educational goals of a school or out-of-school time site
• Learning Support—training in educational content areas, such as literacy, computers, and math
• Learner Relationships—training that helps volunteers build a positive relationship with learners, incorporating both research and strategies