Tutoring program designed to encourage students to learn
MID CITY — A push to open doors for youths has led to the approval of a slew of programs the school district has been eyeing for months.
The Santa Monica-Malibu School District approved five new programs on Thursday intended to increase student engagement and tighten the achievement gap within Santa Monica schools.
The programs will offer students who are slipping academically a chance to re-engage with the school system by tutoring younger students for pay; having better access to counseling services to work through the college application process; and taking advantage of an improved liaison service intended to facilitate communication among students, parents and the schools. Those who have left school will have the option of attending a new community day school as a way to re-enter the educational system.
In addition, the school district is seeking to put a uniform cultural-studies curriculum in place for all ninth and 10th grade students that is intended to foster their appreciation for diversity and broaden their perspectives.
The SMMUSD school board unanimously approved the programs, with some warning they might need to be tweaked to fit the cultural needs of students.
The district is hoping to begin piloting many of these programs this fall.
IMPROVEMENT John Deasy, SMMUSD superintendent, said all ninth and 10th grade students will be required to take a cultural-studies course that will span two years and be incorporated into current course loads.
The cultural-studies course, which will explore world history from a cultural perspective, is being developed by faculty and the administration. It will be an intensive course with the intent of enhancing students’ research and writing skills.
The course will culminate in 10th grade with a public project to be presented before a panel of experts familiar with the topic. The student will choose a topic having to do with current policy and events, research and explore it, and develop a policy solution to discuss with the experts.
School officials said the program will be developed through the summer and might begin in the fall.
A PAID TUTOR PROGRAM A nationally recognized tutoring program in existence for 15 years is to begin in Santa Monica in September.
The Value Youth program seeks to identify middle-school students who are becoming disengaged from the educational system and train them to become academic tutors for younger students.
The tutors will spend one hour a day, three days a week, assisting elementary-school students with reading.
Tutors will be matched with an adult mentor in the business community and be paid for their participation.
Hilary Rhodes, a doctorate fellow with the RAND Corp. who has helped the district coordinate the new program, said research shows the paid tutoring approach is effective in energizing middle-school students because it fosters a sense of value for tutors.
“The program has an amazing capacity to get kids excited about school, to show them they are valuable human beings who are capable of doing what needs to be done,” Rhodes said. “It gives them a chance, and reason, to learn.”
“The program has an amazing capacity to get kids excited about school, to show them they are valuable human beings who are capable of doing what needs to be done. It gives them a chance, and reason, to learn.” — HILARY RHODES RAND Corp
Nonetheless, some school board members approved the program on a note of caution, stressing the tutoring program needs to be tailored to local needs to be effective.
School board member Maria Vazquez said at Thursday’s meeting the tutoring program — popular in San Antonio, Texas, and supported by a strong Latino chamber of commerce — might not have the same impact in Santa Monica unless it is operated by adult mentors who have cultural and ethnic backgrounds similar to the struggling students for whom the program is intended. Vazquez suggested the district mirror a similar program that is being run by through the Cesar Chavez foundation.
Deasy, who took note of Vazquez’ suggestion, said the program will cost $45,000 to $50,000 to pilot this fall at John Adams Middle School. Officials are still working to secure the funding.
OTHER PROGRAMS COMING SOON In an effort to address the needs of minority students in the Santa Monica school system, the school board also approved two new policies at Thursday’s meeting.
The first mandates that all students must be counseled about the college application process before high school graduation.
“We must take all means and efforts to ensure students realize the potential of a four-year degree is within their grasp,” Deasy said, citing higher college drop-out rates among students of color and lower socio-economic means.
In addition to the college counseling service, the school board also approved restructuring its liaison service to help students and parents coordinate their participation within the school community.
The effort, intended as a response to minority parents who are having trouble navigating their children through the school system, allows for more minority representation among liaison staff, many of whom will be hired this summer during the restructuring process.
In another effort to tighten the student achievement gap, the school board has approved a community day school that will allow students to re-enter the educational system.
The community day school, details of which are still being finalized, comes in response to a recent gang violence workshop in which Deasy committed to creating such a program, which was requested by members of the community.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 9, 2005. Read the original PDF.