Abstract

Partnerships can strengthen volunteer-based literacy tutoring programs, but can also increase the administrative and supervisory responsibilities. This practice recommends hiring a paid program coordinator and an onsite coordinator to ensure effective delivery of tutoring services. Excerpted from Northwest Regional Education Laboratory's So That Every Child Can Read.

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Issue

Many agencies and/or people collaborate to deliver literacy tutoring to children, bringing together teachers, parents, and volunteer tutors with various skill levels and backgrounds. Managing and coordinating these multiple resources can be time consuming, and a program can easily be overwhelmed by administrative details.

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Action

Bring a paid program coordinator and onsite coordinator on board to augment a strong vision with the organized delivery of resources.

A program coordinator can be an AmeriCorps VISTA member, graduate student in education, reading consultant, or staff person from a partner organization.

This position would be responsible for:

• Creating systems to identify children for tutoring
• Recruiting volunteer tutors
• Testing children's skills
• Seeking feedback (Koralek and Collins, 1997)

An onsite coordinator is ideally a certified reading specialist, but can also be a retired teacher, professor, school employee, trained volunteer, or graduate student.

The person in this position would:

• Meet frequently with tutors
• Check their training logs
• Ensure that their placement is working well for both the tutors and the schools
• Maintain a daily presence to model effective tutoring techniques, prepare lessons or assist experienced tutors in lesson planning, and observe sessions in order to provide feedback to tutors (Morris, Shaw & Perney, 1990; Wasik, 1998)
• Need to be adept at mentoring and supporting inexperienced tutors

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Citation

Potter, Jana, Judy Blankenship, and Laura Carlsmith. So That Every Child Can Read... America Reads Community Tutoring Partnerships: A Review of Effective and Promising Practices in Volunteer Reading Tutoring Programs. Portland, Oregon: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, 1999. p. 8.

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Outcome

Wisconsin Reads in Madison notes that hiring a paid program coordinator has greatly enhanced partners' ability to focus their energies on achieving specific objectives of the tutoring program instead of managing administrative details.

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Posted On

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For More Information

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Resources

Morris, D., B. Shaw, & J. Perney. (1990). Helping Low Readers in Grades 2 and 3: An After-School Volunteer Tutoring Program. The Elementary School Journal. v.91(2): 133-150.

Wasik, B. A. Using Volunteers as Reading Tutors: Guidelines for Successful Practices. (1998). The Reading Teacher. v.51(7): 562-570.

Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory: Building Effective Partnerships: The Tutoring Team — Program Coordinator and Onsite Coordinator.

Source Documents

Related Practices

• Staffing with program and onsite coordinator positions
• Using both paid providers and volunteers in school settings

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