Tutors for All

Mission:

Tutors for All bridges the achievement gap one student at a time. Through bringing together colleges, public schools, and community resources, we offer the opportunity for underserved students to get the systematic individualized instruction that they need in order to thrive.

Description:

T4A's one-on-one tutorial programs are implemented across entire grade levels. This guarantees that every student benefits from an individualized learning experience; it also ensures that tutors have access to a network of peers from which they can draw support as they tailor their instruction to the particular needs of each student.

Although there are many reasons for Tutors for All's success, one key factor is its strong partnerships with the schools in which it works. Tutors for All has worked with Codman Academy, City on a Hill, Prospect Hill Academy, Conservatory Lab, Community Charter School of Cambridge, and several other schools. Upon partnering with each school, a Tutors for All program manager spends considerable time molding Tutors for All's model into a program best suited for that school. This deep and thoughtful connection between a student's school and their tutoring program allows each student to see a united front of tutor, teachers, and administrators working towards providing them with the best education possible. With the support of the partner schools, tutoring becomes legitimate and incorporated into the school schedule as a mandatory class. With the support of Tutors for All, teachers are freed from reviewing and re-teaching remedial skills and instead can focus on grade appropriate level skills.

History:

Large-scale individual instruction at the high school level was virtually unheard of until The MATCH School pioneered it in the summer of 2002. Tutors for All founder, Mark Destler, was one in a small group of MATCH educators involved in the design and implementation of its first tutorial programs on the MIT campus. Originally a skeptic, he was quickly won over by the elegance of the model and its incontrovertible results.

With the zeal of the recently converted, he took the MATCH work-study model to City on a Hill and Codman Academy, creating "Tutors for All" programs that provided every 9th and 10th grader with between two and four hours of individualized instruction per week. In each case, the results were astounding. Levels of student proficiency on the MCAS jumped thirty points in just a few years (two and a half at City on a Hill, and one and a half at Codman), completely closing the achievement gap between these high-poverty schools and state averages. The program continued to grow.

In 2009, Tutors for All partnered with Third Sector New England, a non-profit organization which lends human resources, financial planning, and administrative support for growing non-profits. Over the last 6 years, Tutors for All has run over 25 programs, affected over 1000 students, and employed over 500 college undergraduate and graduate students. Tutors for All plans to continue its growth in the coming years with the goal to eradicate the achievement gap in Boston and (eventually) the United States.