SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000 - NW Report

Tutoring and mentoring programs hold great promise for helping children succeed in school, but getting a new program off the ground can challenge even the most dedicated organizers. A new publication, Growing a Volunteer Tutor Program: Engaging Communities To Support Schools, offers seasoned advice for surviving the critical start-up year.

NWREL's Education, Career, and Community Program has helped hundreds of volunteer tutor and mentor programs across the country. Currently, NWREL serves as a national training provider for the Corporation for National Service through a project called LEARNS (Linking Education and America Reads through National Service). The LEARNS project assists AmeriCorps, AmeriCorps VISTA, National Senior Service Corps, and Learn and Serve projects in educational settings in rural and urban communities.

"We've learned much about the joys and benefits, as well as the trials and challenges, of preparing volunteer tutors for success in education environments," write authors Rändi Douglas, Leslie Haynes, and Nancy Henry. Their 50-page book draws on lessons learned from building successful partnerships between schools and community-based organizations, businesses, and other groups that provide volunteers.

Because a good beginning is key to the survival of a volunteer program, the authors have organized their advice to focus on the issues most apt to arise during the first 12 months of a new program. That start-up year can be "most challenging," they admit. "It requires crafting a working model, identifying mistakes, refining the system, and establishing reporting systems to track progress and success."

Those tasks typically fall on the shoulders of a single person: the program director.

"Extraordinary people have come forward to jump-start community volunteer programs in schools," the authors report. Growing a Volunteer Tutor Program has been written with these folks in mind.

Readers are invited to watch an imaginary program director named Maria Martin as she launches a volunteer tutor program in a make-believe community. In the engaging narrative that unfolds over four seasons, Maria encounters all the challenges that arise in the real world of school-community partnerships. She must find schools willing to open their doors to tutors and recruit volunteers willing to invest their time to help children. Her tutors need training in how to work effectively with students and teachers. Maria needs a mentor of her own to help her work effectively with schools. Meanwhile, funders want proof that her program is helping children succeed. And children? They make it all worthwhile.

With Maria's story as the main thread, Growing a Volunteer Tutor Program weaves in several other elements to build understanding and appreciation for what it takes to get a program up and running. For example, sample documents are included as illustrations of recruiting flyers, training topics, and assessment tools. A lively e-mail exchange between Maria and an experienced teacher shows the value of finding a mentor. Maria's journal entries capture her emotional highs and lows during the year, reminding readers to pause and reflect as they embark on their own journeys. Finally, a resource section lists suggested readings, helpful organizations, and useful Web sites to help volunteer tutor programs thrive.

To order a copy of Growing a Volunteer Tutor Program, please select this link to the Document Order Form.