About the Practice
The Academic Support Center is a tutoring center for 9th & 10th grade black and Latino young men. The tutoring center is open from Monday – Thursday from 4-6pm. After tutoring, the student incentive is participation in a basketball game from 6-8:30pm. The Academic Support Center has been open since October and is run by a school guidance counselor, a special ed teacher and a science teacher.
Target Population/Total Students:
We currently serve approximately 40 black & Latino 9th & 10th grade young men.
Challenges:
- Getting teachers from all subject areas to commit to 4 days of after school.
- Finding incentive for getting students to stay for 2 hours after school.
- What would be the ideal time of day for the center? Could we do it in the morning?
How did school overcome challenges?
We met with several teachers in all grades and asked for their help. Because teachers couldn’t commit to working every day from M-Th, we have teachers alternating days when students receiving extra help in math and ELA. Teachers weren’t able to commit to morning tutoring for this target population because they already offer morning homework help that is open to all of their students.
How did you evaluate that this practice was effective?
Program attendance and participation is closely monitored daily. Students who do not attend the Academic Support Center cannot participate in the basketball game from 6-8pm. When students are absent, they are contacted at home and followed up with the following day. Students who participate in the Center have shown significant improvement in attendance and gpa.
How will you continue to sustain this practice?
We will use our Galaxy funding to sustain this program. Since the program offers a supplemental service, we will be able to use our Title I funds as well as C4E and tax levy. We will continue to offer the program during after school.