Tutors for All Teams with MATCH School, Wins $25,000 Innovation Prize
Westminster, Colorado September 17, 2009
The MATCH School and Tutors for All have won a $25,000 Innovation Prize at The Charter School Growth Funds Education Entrepreneurs Showcase. Their presentation, Megadoses of One-on-One or One-on-Two Tutoring In Urban Charter Schools, showcased the dramatic effects tutorial has had at MATCH, City on a Hill, and Codman Academy.
Tutorial has driven MATCHs state-high MCAS scores. Tutors for All has shown these effects to be replicable, as first City on a Hill and then Codman Academy showed state-high MCAS improvement. These dramatic results impressed the Charter School Growth fund judges and led to MATCH and Tutors for All receiving the second prize, beating out such nationally recognized organizations as KIPP, Achievement First, and Mastery Charter Schools.
Tutors for All Founder and Director Named Educator of the Year
In June of 2007, Mark Destler, founder of Tutors for All, was named 2006-2007 Educator of the Year by Boston Partners in Education for their collaboration on a City on a Hill MCAS Tutorial program that resulted in the highest MCAS scores in CoaH history by a wide margin. He attended the awards ceremony at Fenway Park accompanied by some exceptional tutors.
Tutors for All Invited to Statewide Conference, Presents "Tutoring 101"
Tutors for All Invited to Statewide Conference, Presents Tutoring 101
Worcester, MA On February 5th, Tutors for All presented Tutoring 101 or using tutorial to transform your school one student at a time at the Massachusetts Center for Public Charter School Excellence Instructional Forum. This presentation showcased the dramatic effects tutorial has had at three Boston charter schools and identified core principles that have led to each programs success.
Tutorial has dramatically affected student performance at MATCH, City on a Hill, and Codman Academy three of only eight high poverty, high performance high schools statewide and it has the potential to affect thousands of students at scores of schools in Boston and beyond. At the same time, the vast majority of tutoring programs created by schools just do not work. The core principles and practices identified in Tutors for Alls presentation, available online at www.tutorsforall.org, will help schools state and nation-wide bridge the achievement gap one student at a time.
Tutors for All Welcomes Achievement First to Boston
Brighton, MA and Cambridge, MA
On Friday, February 12th, Tutors for All welcomed administrators from the Achievement First Charter School Network to Boston. Achievement First visited tutorial programs at Conservatory Lab Charter School (CLCS) in Brighton and Community Charter School of Cambridge (CCSC), learning first-hand the core principles and practices involved in a transformative tutorial program.
CLCS and CCSC are two of Tutors for Alls newest programs, but the core principles and practices that have made tutorial programs at The MATCH School, City on a Hill, and Codman Academy so successful were readily apparent in each. We have learned so much from the Tutors for All programs, wrote Assistant to the President Nedgine Paul and NY Tutoring Coordinator Joanna Popik. The excellent work of your entire team is inspiring!
Tutors for All to Provide Supplemental Educational Services
Boston, Massachusetts February 24, 2010 The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has accepted Tutors for All as an approved provider of Supplemental Educational Services (SES). This will enable Tutors for All to deliver one-on-one academic instruction to a greater number of low-income students in the Greater Boston area.
Tutors for All joins a cohort of state and national organizations, among such celebrated nonprofits as Tenacity and Citizen Schools, in supplying students in under performing schools with additional academic instruction. For five years, Tutors for All has developed transformative tutorial programs for Boston area charter schools; the new status will now make their unique take on tutorial available to thousands of additional students in Greater Boston
For a complete listing of SES providers, visit the Massachusetts Department of Education website at www.doe.mass.edu. For more information regarding Tutors for All, please visit www.tutorsforall.org.
Tutors for All Teams Joins 13th and Annual Mother's Day Walk for Peace
Dorchester, Massachusetts May 9th, 2010
Early on a chilly Sunday morning in Field's Corner, Dorchester, Tutors for All staff and friends joined hundreds of local residents gathered together in support of a single cause: peace. Elected officials, law enforcement professionals, neighbors, clergy, ad-vocates, and family members and friends of victims of violence were all present and their presence palpable. Though the stage was modest, the rhetoric was anything but.
This was the 13th annual Mother's Day Walk for Peace the institute has organized, and with more than $27,000 collected in donations by late morning, it is clear that action is being taken and the voices of an embattled community are being heard.
Christopher Baginski, ardent supporter of peace
Tutors for All, a Boston nonprofit deeply involved in two schools within walking distance of Field's Corner, considers education to be key in enacting the kind of change the Peace Institute aims to achieve. They completed the 3.6 mile walk, banner in hands, joining the hundreds of supporters back at Gibson Park, where the demonstration continued. T-shirts and buttons were sold, a teen dance group performed for an excited crowd, and most importantly, the victims of teen violence were memorialized.
BU School of Management Teams with Tutors for All, Develops Long-Term Growth Model
Recently, Tutors for All partnered with a team from Boston University's School of Management. The BU team, comprised of four senior MBA candidates, was aiming to advise a local nonprofit in strategic planning and long-term growth. Included in the plan were suggested modes for expansion, both in-state and out-of-state, methods for measuring program-school compatibility, avenues to maximize funding via foundations and entitlements, and systems to optimize program productivity, and efficiency.
BU School of Management
The team presented the final growth model May 4th to an audience of TfA staff, partners, local education leaders, and potential advisory board members. The presentation met critical acclaim and a lively discussion ensued in which audience members deliberated over the finer aspects of the model. Tutors for All Executive Director Mark Destler noted the success of the presentation and his excitement in its potential.
Tutors for All Finds an Office Space All Their Own at the NonProfit Center
Over the past five years, Tutors for All has known its fair share of imaginative office solutions. Whether it was converting a leaky storage closet into a two person "office-suite" or rotating neighborhood cafes for staff meetings, we knew shared space before shared space was cool. We recognize the graciousness, and often the genuine interest, of the hosts that helped a relatively young nonprofit find its feet.
Tutors for All Head Quarters has found its place in the world, at the state-of-the-art facility, the NonProfit Center. The building plays host to dozens of nonprofits over 9 floors of office space. In addition to this space, it offers a number of services to its tenants, including workshops, trainings, and a host of developmental tools.
NonProfit Center
Tutors for All is proud to have its home amongst so many driven nonprofit organizations and professionals. Moving forward, we can be reached at the following address:
The NonProfit Center
89 South Street, Suite LL02
Boston, MA 02111
Scott/Ross Center for Community Service Awards Tutors for All "Outstanding Community Partner"
Simmons Main Campus BuildingRecently, Tutors for All was recognized by the Scott/Ross Center for Community Service at Simmons College as an Outstanding Community Partner. Tutors for All Program Manager, Courtney McSparron and Operations Manager, Mike Zinni, accepted the award on behalf of all TfA staff, campus representatives, program coordinators, lead tutors, tutors, and volunteers.
Over the course of five years, Tutors for All and the Scott/Ross Center have cultivated a partnership that has served to benefit TfA greatly, not least of which has been the consistent base of high-quality tutors the center has helped to recruit. In addition, the efforts of the always friendly and helpful staff have served as an invaluable resource since TfA's inception. Tutors for All would like to personally thank Scott/Ross Center Faculty Director, Steve London and Associate Director for Undergraduate Service-Learning, Desirae Simmons.
Tutors for All "Races to the Top" with Two i3 Proposals
This May, Tutors for All has partnered in two "Investments in Innovation" (i3) proposals. The first, a $30 million validation grant, will have Tutors for All and Expeditionary Learning Schools (www.elschools.org) working together to create a "powerhouse" to turn around struggling schools in Western New York and Central Massachusetts. The second, a $5 million development grant, will have Tutors for All and Codman Academy (an Expeditionary Learning School in Boston) taking their award-winning collaboration for college and career readiness to Boston district schools.
The i3 fund encourages schools and educational non-profits to compete for grants in much the same way as "Race to the Top" encourages competition among the states. Over the past two years, tutorial has driven Codman's MCAS scores from the middle of the pack to among the top five high-poverty schools in the state of Massachusetts. Winning an i3 grant will allow Tutors for All to dramatically scale up its impact, bridging the achievement gap one school at a time.
