its a match

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its a match!!!

• Megadoses of One-on-One Tutoring
• for Urban High School Students
• Presentation at the Title I Conference, Feb 1,
  2008, Nashville TN
• ___________

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About MATCHAlan Safran, Executive Director

• Mission
• Prepare inner-city Boston students to succeed in
  college and beyond- including students who have
  not been led to expect a university education.
• Reverse underachievement through innovation and
  no shortcuts ethic.
• Embrace discipline, courage and perseverance as
  core values.

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Background

• Opened in September 2000
• Serves 220 students in grades 9 through 12
• Lottery admission
• Tuition-free, state-chartered public school
• 2/3 of operating support is from state
• 1/3 of operating support is raised privately
• 63 African American and Caribbean American, 30
  Latino, , 4 White, 3 Asian
• 71 live in in poverty (statistically) many in
  single-parent or non-parent households.
• Majority have failed 8th grade math and/or
  English state exams

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Results/Recognition

• 99 of our graduates from our first four classes
  - 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 - have been accepted
  into four-year colleges. Together they received
  approximately 4 million in four-year
  scholarships and need-based grants. Their
  selections include Boston College, Brown,
  Dartmouth, Duke, Georgetown, Smith, and Spelman
  College
• For the second consecutive year, every MATCH
  student passed the 10th grade MCAS tests in
  English and Mathematics. In terms of the
  percentage of students scoring proficient or
  advanced on the math MCAS, MATCH is ranked 1 of
  all 341 high schools in Massachusetts.
• In 2006-07, MATCH received two national honors
  in December 2006, we were included in a report
  published by the U.S. Department of Education,
  featuring eight successful charter high schools,
  out of 400 closely reviewed in May 2007, we were
  selected, along with 2 other Boston charters, by
  the Center for Education Reform as one of 53
  National Charter Schools of the Year.

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2 Types of Tutoring at MATCH

• Tutoring during the school day
• Weekend Tutoring

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A. Tutoring during the school day

• Lisa Hwang
• MATCH Corps Director and
• Assistant Principal

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What Is MATCH Corps?

• 45 Top Recent College Grads (with majors from
  math to history to biology no education majors)
  work full-time (50 hours per week) for one year.
  
• Most of the time is tutoring students 9th and
  10th graders in mathematics and English 11th and
  12th graders in Advanced Placement and college
  courses. Corps members also serve as assistants
  to teachers and staff.
• In return, Corps receive extensive training, a
  monthly stipend of 600 to 850 per month, and
  free housing in the dormitory on the top floor of
  our school.

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• Even before the programs inception in September
  2004, MATCH Corps became a case study in
  strategic management at Harvards Kennedy School
  of Government.
• Basic questions
• Can they attract 45 elite college grads for 600
  per month? A Yes, if the program is well-run,
  far exceeding other service year programs.
• Are school leaders insane to have tutors living
  on the top floor of a public school? A No. No
  problems to date, so far as we know
• Can the school redo its entire schedule to
  optimize Corps impact? A Yes. Tutoring is not
  after-school, but woven throughout the school
  day, like classes.

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MATCH Corps Goals

• Raise State Graduation Test (MCAS) Proficiency
• Raise of students taking AP Exams
• Raise AP Exam Scores and BU GPA (all MATCH
  seniors take classes at Boston University)
• Reduce Flunk Rate and Transfer Rate
• Achieve High Satisfaction Among Stakeholders
  Parents, Students, Corps, Teachers

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Broader Education Pipeline Goal of Getting More
Talented Young People Involved in Urban Education

• Pathway 1 Attract Elite Recent College Grads To
  Consider Teaching and Education Policy Careers,
  But With A Different InductionFull-time
  Tutoring, Not Teaching.
• Pathway 2 Attract Future Med and Law School
  Students to Work Productively In A High-Poverty
  High School and, Down The Road, Become Citizen
  Advocates for Education Reform (e.g., Charter
  School Trustees Politicians Civil Rights
  Advocates).

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Selectivity MATCH Corps Tied for 1 in nation
with Harvard and Stanford for GRE/SAT Scores
among 884 Graduate Schools of Education Nationwide
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MCAS 2007 Math Proficiency Vs. State
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MCAS 2007English Proficiency Vs. State
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of AP Exams Taken

• Pre-Match Corps Approximately 6 Exams Taken
• 2004-2005 (Inaugural Year of Match Corps) 49
  Exams Taken
• 2005-2006 56 Exams Taken
• 2006-2007 84
• Projection for 2007-2008 90 Exams Taken

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Passing Rate on AP Tests Improves from 14 to 29
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(No Transcript)
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Special Note

• Ongoing feedback and evaluation
• A Zoomerang
• B Coaching Groups

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Community Goals (1/2 of the Corps Are
Underwritten By AmeriCorps)

• MATCH Corps tutors work 10 hours a week in
  regular Boston district public schools by
  providing curricular and tutorial support for
  students, at no cost.
• Strengthen local communities with over 4,000
  hours of service various projects, from
  schoolyard clean-ups to poetry slams to benefit
  non-profits, and mobilize a few hundred
  volunteers in the process.

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B. Weekend Tutoring

• Christie Paul
• Director of Weekend Tutoring

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Weekend Tutoring Structure

• Each sophomore at MATCH receives 4 hours of
  one-on-one tutoring in math and English.
• While students are required to participate in
  tutoring they are allowed to choose from Friday,
  Saturday or Sunday tutoring.
• 25 scheduled weeks of weekend tutoring 100
  hours of extra one-on-one help in math and
  English!!!

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Staffing

• Who are the weekend tutors?
• Work-study students negotiate slightly higher
  per hour rate for weekend tutors in comparison to
  on-campus job opportunities while still paying
  only a fraction of salary.
• Schools must set aside work-study funding for
  community service based programs take
  advantage!
  
• for fiscal year 2000 and succeeding fiscal
  years, an institution shall use at least 7
  percent of the total amount of funds granted to
  such institution under this section for such
  fiscal year to compensate students employed in
  community service, and shall ensure that not less
  than 1 tutoring or family literacy project1
• Volunteers Volunteers can coexist with paid
  tutors! You can use paid tutors to provide a
  steady core, especially if they are work-study.
  Also, volunteers who simply want to help are
  often willing to sign up anyway
• 1 Higher Education Act Part C. Sec. 443.

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Effective 11 Tutoring

• Top 10 Tips

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Top 10 Tips For Effective 11 Tutoring

• Pair the same student with HIS/HER tutor every
  time
• Maintain parent buy-in
• Go where the tutors go
• Design and communicate clear rules
• Structure, structure, structure!
• Create two-way evaluations
• Design and communicate clear goals
• Aim for long sessions, not short ones
• Compensate your tutors
• Volunteers are good tutors, too

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Top 10 Tips For Effective 11 Tutoring

• 1. SAME STUDENT EACH TIME WITH HIS/HER TUTOR
• Tutoring the same kid with the same tutor for
  the whole year is a HUGE gain. It's logistically
  tempting to "Spread around" the tutoring...so
  that each kid gets a little bit...but on a Return
  On Investment basis, the quality of an hour with
  a kid that you know is far higher than the
  quality of an hour with a kid that you simply get
  assigned to....

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Top 10 Tips For Effective 11 Tutoring

• 2. PARENT BUY-IN
• With a regular tutor-student pairing, you can
  move to parent buy-in. Phone calls and parent
  contracts are a must BEFORE the tutoring starts.
  Parents LIKE individual help for their kids.
  They understand that there need to be rules.
  Every 3-minute phone call by a supervisor or the
  tutor to the parent (to say the session went well
  or not) is a huge investment in the quality of
  the next multi-hour session.

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Top 10 Tips For Effective 11 Tutoring

• 3. GO WHERE THE TUTORS ARE
• Work-study college students weren't consistently
  available during the week. So to stick with the
  commitment of same student same tutor, we went
  to weekends. That requires a commitment from the
  school.

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Top 10 Tips For Effective 11 Tutoring

• 4. CLEAR RULES
• The rules and consequences need to be simple and
  clear. 5 questions every program must answer
  What happens with a kid who no-shows, who is
  late, who won't do the work when asked by the
  tutor, who wanders the hall, who misbehaves.
  And what happens with a tutor who no-shows or is
  late. Many tutoring programs try simply to
  manage kids by coaxing (come on, let's get to
  work here). Tutors quit quickly if you don't
  enforce the rules.
• Ideally, some staffer with high relationship
  capital with the kids (dean, favorite teacher,
  principal) reviews the basic rules with all of
  the kids, out loud, in front of all of the
  tutors. "Here is what we've told your tutors.
  If they don't enforce these rules, we will fire
  them. They are here to help you so please don't
  put them in a tough position."
• Don't expect the tutors to be great
  rule-enforcers. Many don't want to do the "dirty
  work" - they're afraid that if they hold the kid
  accountable, the kid won't like them. So have a
  redundant system - tell the tutor to enforce the
  rules, train them to do it, but assume some won't
  and the supervisor needs to ANTICIPATE this and
  allocate the necessary time.

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Top 10 Tips For Effective 11 Tutoring

• 5. STRUCTURE, STRUCTURE, STRUCTURE
• We created a default model use of the tutoring
  time.

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Top 10 Tips For Effective 11 Tutoring

• 6. TWO-WAY EVALUATIONS
• Use 2-way daily evaluations by the tutor AND by
  the kid as a management tool. Identify the 20
  of troubled sessions. That keeps student
  attendance high and tutor attrition low. And
  grade tutoring like you grade a classwith same
  consequences.

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Top 10 Tips For Effective 11 Tutoring

• 7. CLEAR GOALS
• There is homework/studying tutoring (helping a
  kid with their classes, which moves at a
  prescribed pace) and basic skills tutoring (which
  moves at the kid's pace -- like learning to add
  fractions). Differentiate. Each creates
  different challenges
• Test goals are the best - whether it's a science
  test next week or a standardized test in 5
  months. That way, the tutor feels a clear sense
  of mission, and the ability to answer the kid's
  question "Why am I here?" The more fuzzy the
  goals (to get "better" at reading), the less
  effective the tutor.

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Top 10 Tips For Effective 11 Tutoring

• 8. GO FOR LONG SESSIONS, NOT SHORT
• Longer sessions. 4-hours is the right time.
  First, whether your session is two hours or four
  hours, you will probably lose 30 minutes. Assume
  5-10 minutes to get started of chatting 15
  minute break in the middle a couple of other
  pauses. Therefore it's better to spread the lost
  30 minutes over 4 hours than 2.
• Second, longer sessions HELP kids really get
  focused. Shorter sessions find that many kids
  try to "stall out" the session, wander the halls,
  etc. With 4 hours, there's nothing to do but
  just get to work.
• Third, think of the labor force's travel time.
  If they travel 30 minutes door to door, that's an
  hour wasted round trip each session. Think of
  how much more satisfying it is to do 4 hours than
  1 hour.

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Top 10 Tips For Effective 11 Tutoring

• 9.COMPENSATE YOUR TUTORS
• That can be cash, it can be "Aggressive
  appreciation" (handwritten thank you cards,
  gifts, food, Barnes and Noble gift cards), it can
  be internship credit, it can be school credit
  (for peer tutors), and/or it can be a
  well-managed, tight program where, from the
  tutor's point of view, the kid is there on time,
  the goals are clear, the session feels
  productive, and problems are solved quickly.

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Top 10 Tips For Effective 11 Tutoring

• 10. VOLUNTEERS ARE GOOD TUTORS, TOO
• Volunteers can coexist with paid tutors! You
  can use paid tutors to provide a steady core,
  especially if they are work study and therefore
  there is a rationale of why they get paid, and
  volunteers who simply want to help are often
  willing to sign up anyway.

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For more information, contact us

• Alan Safran, Executive Director
• asafran_at_matchschool.org
• Lisa Hwang, MATCH Corps Director
• lisa.hwang_at_matchschool.org
• Christie Paul, Director of Weekend Tutoring
• christie.paul_at_matchschool.org
• www.matchschool.org
• MATCH Charter Public High School
• 1001 Commonwealth Ave.
• Boston, MA 02215
• 617.232.0300