The current buzz phrase is “high-impact literacy,” but what it all boils down to is this: Helping young students become better readers through relationship-building and consistent small-group tutoring.
North Carolina Education Corps is a nonprofit initiative to get literacy tutors in elementary schools to help children who need a little extra support with reading skills.
Ashley Bean was a reading tutor last year and worked with second graders; she is currently helping NC Ed Corps recruit more tutors for Vance County schools and spoke with John C. Rose on Thursday’s The Local Skinny! to provide details about the program.
Bean said there were probably a dozen or so Ed Corps tutors working in Vance County schools last year but school officials would like to see that number grow to 20.
The pay scale for tutors ranges from $15/hr. for high school students to $25/hr. for tutors who hold advance degrees.
Visit https://nceducationcorps.org/ to find the application. Once the application has been completed, Bean said Ed Corps staff will contact the prospective tutor to complete the screening and training process. The tutor is hired by the local school system, but is supported throughout the school year by Ed Corps staff. Each tutor gets support from his or her own private learning coach who shares proven skills and techniques to help children improve their literacy skills.
Vance County schools officials expect a tutor to work at least 10 hours each week, providing a minimum of three 30-minute sessions to a small group of students – between 1 and 3 children, Bean said. But tutors can work as many as 26 hours a week, she said. That expectation could vary by county, she added.
She said she decided to become a tutor last year because it fit her schedule: She’s in graduate school, but also has three children at home.
“It was a great opportunity for me to do something for the community,” while being available to attend her children’s activities and to do her schoolwork as well, she said.
NC Ed Corps may be a perfect fit for a retired educator, a college student or a stay-at-home mom with school-age children to get out of the house, make a little money and help a children become better readers.
For Bean, the best part of being a tutor was establishing relationships with the students she worked with. She said she didn’t really know if her work was truly having an effect on her second-grade students. But one student’s answer quelled her uncertainty when she came to get him from the classroom, she said.
“You’re 22 min late – I thought you weren’t coming,” the boy said, as he happily left his classroom for his session with his tutor.
Contact Bean at 252.432.3995 or ashley.bean@nceducationcorps.org .
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