Essay #2: Proposal to Solve a Problem
Having to retake a course due to poor grades is devastating for most students. Not only does it need an investment of time and finances to pass the course, but extra input needs to be placed by investing in tutor services to enable the student to cover more coursework within a limited amount of time. Tutoring comes in handy for those students who need to be jump-started after a long summer break and those who juggle between work and studying not to fail their courses outright. With the Covid-19 pandemic, tutoring has become relevant as most classes go online, and in-person teaching is no longer possible. Although many schools have tutoring services available to students, if we want to see higher graduation and retention rates during the pandemic and beyond, we must improve tutor accessibility for students across the board. For this reason, the learning gap among high-risk students is widening, and they will lag behind in their studies.
According to Edglossary.org, a learning gap is a difference between what a student has learned—i.e., the academic progress he or she has made—and what the student was expected to learn at a certain point in their education, such as a particular age or grade level. Due to the Covid pandemic, the learning gap is widening, and student performance is likely to decline at a very fast rate. Nonetheless, graduation and retention rates are likely to decrease significantly as students are forced to re-sit exams and redo their classes (Martellaro 2019). According to Collegetuitioncompare.com, graduation rates for San Bernardino Valley College are at 18%, and its retention rate is 65 %. Without the help of more tutors, we will see these numbers drop even lower. Although many schools have tutoring services available to students, if we want to see higher graduation and retention rates during the pandemic and beyond, we must improve tutor accessibility for students across the board.
With high intake rates at the university, professors teach hundreds of students in one class, while the classes in community colleges hold about 30-40 students. The professor can’t give each student total attention to better understand the course content without getting outside help, such as tutoring. Students are different in a class, and they grasp academic content differently, while still, some are at risk of failing their courses. Tutoring will help students get the much-needed attention that they cannot get from a crowded classroom. Tutoring also helps students hone their studying and learning skills; they are useful throughout their study life (Goldstein & Matthew 2020). The unique learning experience, one-on-one attention, helps in improving academic performance. If we are to ensure that students at high risk of failing are allowed to improve their grades, we need to discuss three impactful ways that can help increase tutor accessibility.
To begin with, we need to increase the number of volunteer tutors that different educational institutions have. This can be made possible by improving relations between different schools and local institutions, expanding the pool of tutors from which students can choose. Co-operation is lacking among different school districts; thus, many people do not sign up to become tutors. Lack of incentives is another factor that discourages people from signing up as tutors. Appreciating the tutors with small tokens will help motivate many people to take up tutoring opportunities. To become a tutor, one needs to be trained; nonetheless, with cross-cultural district co-operation, we can identify what works and does not work and can adjust accordingly.
Next, if we could get our state and local governments’ approval, the schools themselves could offer incentives to tutors by reducing their tuition payments for their classes. If different school districts can reduce their tuition cost, it will motivate them to take up tutoring. Imagine if major universities across the nation said something like this, “If you tutor students, for an X amount of time in these specific courses even if at the high school level, we will reduce your tuition cost.” If that happens, we would see an influx of new tutors. Such incentives motivate tutors to take up classes, enabling students to cover more course content within a short period of time. With the cessation of classroom activity, the syllabus is likely to lag behind by a great margin. Institutions should take this time to invest in tutoring once classes resume so that students do not lose a lot of time.
Another way we could improve tutor participation is to seek financial help from our state and federal agencies so that tutors can be properly compensated. Poor compensation often discourages tutors from taking on tutoring. With a bigger budget, we could hire more tutors and offer them more hours to work with the students. A stimulus package at the federal level, offering current tutors and future prospective tutors’ financial compensation, would help facilitate better tutor accessibility for high-risk students. Thankfully many schools around the country have provided their student’s excellent access to properly trained tutors. At San Bernardino Valley College, students who would normally have access to the Academic Success Centers or the Writing-Center, can still make an appointment with them online and schedule an online appointment via email, telephone, or zoom.
At San Bernardino California State University, students can also go online and signup for 30 mins to one-hour tutoring sessions and receive help with any number of classes ranging from Accounting to mathematics. Perdue University’s online writing Lab is another great source students could take advantage of. Finally, certain students that qualify can utilize the VA student services, which would provide them with free tutoring services. These schools and institutions are committed to making sure every student has all the tools necessary to be successful even during the global pandemic Covid-19.
Students that do well in school often develop what Carol Dweck calls a Growth Mindset. A growth mindset is a personal belief that if they can develop the basic learning abilities, they can achieve their goals no matter the difficulties that lie ahead of them. In her book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, she writes, “Mindset change is not about picking up a few pointers here and there. It’s about seeing things in a new way. When people…change to a growth mindset, they change from a judge-and-be-judged framework to a learn-and-help-learn framework (Dweck 5). Their commitment is to growth, and growth takes plenty of time, effort, and mutual support.” Tutoring high-risk students will help facilitate a growth mindset within each student and will boost their confidence as well as their desire to stay in school. Students need tutors, now more than ever before, because the learning gap during the Covid-19 pandemic will continue to increase, and students will fall further behind at a much faster rate. We must take action now.
Work cited
“Coyote PLUS Programs – Tutoring Office.” CSUSB, www.csusb.edu/coyote-plus/tutoring.
Dweck, Carol S. Mindset: the New Psychology of Success. Ballantine Books, 2016.
Goldstein, Dana. “Research Shows Students Falling Months Behind During Virus Disruptions.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 June 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/06/05/us/coronavirus-education-lost-learning.html.
Kraft, Matthew, and Michael Goldstein. “Getting Tutoring Right to Reduce COVID-19 Learning Loss.” Brookings, Brookings, 21 May 2020, www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2020/05/21/getting-tutoring-right-to-reduce-covid-19-learning-loss/.
“Learning Gap Definition.” The Glossary of Education Reform, 29 Aug. 2013, www.edglossary.org/learning-gap/.
Martellaro, Posted By Nick. “What Are Learning Gaps, and How Can Tutor Doctor Help?” Tutor Doctor, 23 June 2019, www.tutordoctor.com/blog/2019/june/what-are-learning-gaps-and-how-can-tutor-doctor-/.
Popova, Maria. “Fixed vs. Growth: The Two Basic Mindsets That Shape Our Lives.” Brain Pickings, 16 Feb. 2020, www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/29/carol-dweck-mindset/.
Purdue Writing Lab. “OWL // Purdue Writing Lab.” Purdue Writing Lab, owl.purdue.edu/.
“Tutorial Assistance.” Veterans Affairs, www.va.gov/education/about-gi-bill-benefits/how-to-use-benefits/tutor-assistance/.
“Tutoring & Academic Support.” San Bernardino Valley College, www.valleycollege.edu/student-services/tutoring-academic-support/index.php.
Waters, Laura. “Why We Need to Prioritize Tutoring for All Students.” New York School Talk, 29 Nov. 2017, newyorkschooltalk.org/2017/11/need-prioritize-tutoring-students/.