Announcement
The IRC in Denver's Youth Education team is excited to announce the completion of their pilot program of Tutoring Together! The teams' interest in this particular program - with the goal to support client teens with their school work, English language acquisition, and adjustment to school expectations in the USA - was partly born out of feedback from a IRC in Denver Client Voice focus group, in which teens strongly advocated for their need of more personalized English language training.
Tutoring Together, which receives support from experts at the IRC Headquarter as well as the National Student Support Accelerator at Standford University, has been part of the IRC in Denver's Youth education team priorities since December 2023. Since then, the team has had regular meetings with other participating offices, received trainings on how to improve tutoring programs for student newcomers, and connected with volunteers. In May 2024, participating youth staff visited the IRC Headquarters in NYC for their annual Volunteer Tutoring Quality Improvement Conference, with the goal to improve each stage of the planned Denver's Tutoring Together program.
Tutoring Together is especially designed for client youth in middle and high schools, who benefit from support when it comes to the more rigorous school material and more complex school navigation. The program pairs one volunteer with one to three students for in-home individualized tutoring sessions, lasting a minimum of two hours over the course of 8 weeks. In the pilot, three volunteers supported two families and five students.
"It is truly impressive how in this short pilot program, we already witnessed the students' English improve, their confidence increase, as well as a significant growth in their vocabulary,"
states one volunteer.
"The pilot volunteers and clients of Tutoring Together are crucial in helping design and make adjustments to the program,"
says Abigail Coyle - Youth Program Specialist at the IRC in Denver - who plans on a full launch of the program this August to December 2024.
If you are interested in supporting the program, please consider volunteering in the August to December cohort. Email [email protected] for any questions.
Written by: Hanna Simmons
