Tutoring for dollars!

UF students can cash in and help get area K-12 students up to speed with a one-time grant opportunity

By Pulse Staff

For students looking to make a decent paycheck during school, the College of Education at the University of Findlay just might have an enticing opportunity.

The Ohio Department of Education along with the Ohio Department of Higher Education handed out $14 million in Statewide Mathematics and Literacy Tutoring Grants to 33 Ohio colleges and universities, and UF received one of those grants.

Dr. Kerry Teeple, Assistant Professor of Teaching in Education, says the money is for a program to help K-12 students in Ohio who need help with literacy and math in a post-pandemic world. This means the College of Education needs to hire lots of tutors very soon.

“This is to cover some of the academic slipping from COVID,” Teeple said. “The Ohio Department of Education has recognized that that is a problem. Data is showing our kids in elementary, middle and high school are not where they need to be due to a couple of years of a really unfortunate situation.

“(College of Education Dean) Julie McIntosh wrote a grant to the Ohio Department of Education for funding, and the funding is for High Dosage Tutoring,” Teeple said. “So, they gave us $600,000 plus, spread over two years.”

The Ohio Department of Education website says the grants awarded to Ohio universities and colleges for the High Dosage Tutoring program is funded through ARP-ESSER, a one-time grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

According to the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education website, the $122 billion for the American Rescue Plan Act Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) Fund was part of a $1.9 trillion package passed by Congress in March 2021.

Most of the grant money is to be spent on paying tutors to go into Findlay City Schools and work with the kids one-on-one on math and reading skills. Teeple recently worked to recruit students to fill the positions at the UF Student Job Fair advertising they could get up to $20 an hour.

“Students can work as many hours (up to 20) as they are able,”Teeple said. “We will coordinate with the schools to find a time for the students to meet with the tutor during the school day.” 

She points out that tutors will need to travel to the school to do the tutoring.  One other requirement of the job is to get fingerprinted. 

Teeple says as Findlay City Schools start back to class on Monday, Aug. 22, they will assess students to get a baseline of which students may be behind in math or reading.

“They will filter those students down from highest need to lowest need and then, based on the students I get here, I’ll match the students with the tutors,” Teeple said. “Then they will go to the school and work with them one-on-one.”

Teeple hopes UF tutors can start working with the students in early September.

Teeple said some of the students interested in the tutoring positions are concerned about how they would know what to teach. She tells tutoring candidates that UF will train tutors before they go out to work with the students.

“Also, when you get to the school you’ll see, they’ll bring their work with them so you can see what they’re needing help on,” Teeple said. “Imagine if you were struggling with something and you got a half an hour or an hour one-on-one to just practice, practice, practice that skill, what a difference that would make.”

“So, we may end up having a need for 100 students, so we need lots of tutors,” Teeple said.

Teeple says they are most interested in Math tutors and they will provide training for the tutors.

“We want UF students to keep in mind that the level of math that they will be helping with is likely Algebra 1 or below,” Teeple said. “We will train individuals on building rapport with students, how to manage any problems, and how to keep students motivated.  We will also help with specific math skills if our tutors need refreshers.”

If interested in one of the tutoring positions UF students can find Math and Literacy tutor positions posted on WorkDay.

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