Friday, February 04, 2005
Monrovia School Link ~ Number 104 ~ January 30, 2005
This is one of those special newsletters, about an aspect of the school district that you don't necessarily see at the board meetings. In this case, it is an interview with the head of the Pro-Active Tutoring (PAT) program, Duke Freyermuth. He's an interesting guy, who, by the way, says that if you'd like to seen the program in action, just give him a call or send him an email. By the way, if there's some aspect of the district you wonder about, send me a note and maybe I'll do a story about it.
~ brad@sacklunch.net
I got together with Freyermuth at the Monrovia Coffee Company at the suggestion of Joel Shawn at the district office (actually, Shawn didn't suggest the coffee shop, just that we get together, but you probably guessed that). Anyway, I came to the meeting a bit warily because I had a suspicion that this interview was in response to a critical letter about the PAT program from a parent who wrote to say she saw some tutors chit-chatting instead of tutoring, so I figured this was going to be about setting me straight.
So, with this thought in mind, I sat down for a chat.
Freyermuth is retired now, if you can call it that. He worked for the district for 32 years as a teacher and counselor, from 1968 to 2000, first at Monrovia High School then at Clifton Middle School. Then, since 2000, he's been running PAT, still working for the district, in a manner of speaking.
Basically, Freyermuth doesn't deny that the parent who wrote the letter saw tutors chatting instead of helping students ("What the parent saw probably happened," he said.) - and he wants to correct that - but overall, he said, the tutors do a great job and the program is very successful.
Specifically, he said 87 percent of students who participate in the tutoring program improve by at least one grade.
O-kay. That's a pretty impressive bottom line.
He said the program has won the California School Boards Association's Golden Bell award, that both the County of Los Angeles and El Monte are interested in doing their own versions of the program, and that "the biggest barometer" is the teachers, who are very enthusiastic about the results.
Duke (Can I call you Duke, Duke?) said be began the tutoring program with Citrus College students and some of the Maryknoll Sisters, who have a community in Monrovia. From that it has expanded to - if I'm counting the names correctly on the sheet he gave me - 40 tutors at every school except Mayflower, which - for weird reasons I don't wish to get into - needs to have a separate tutoring program. It has also expanded from offering help to at-risk students to offering open-to-all after-school help.
He said the tutors, who are paid about $8 an hour, have $6 an hour of their wages paid by the Federal Work Study program, which leaves $2 an hour, which is covered by various Monrovia community groups. Monrovia, he said, is generous. "Almost everywhere I've asked, I've gotten help." Cost to the district? Nothing.
The tutors, Duke said, get about four training sessions per year. He said they are specifically told to press the students about what they need help on. He said that if you just ask a student if he needs help or if his homework is done, he or she - from shyness or whatever - will almost always say that everything is fine. So the tutors need to push a little, and say, "Well, let's go over what you've been working on."
With its success in Monrovia, Duke has expanded his vision. He's thinking in terms of a Tutoring Corps. He figures we already have a Peace Corp and a Job Corp. Why not a Tutoring Corps? Why not call up Oprah and get her to plug the idea? Why not get the state to fund the idea? (Uhh. Bad time to ask the state for money, Duke.) Okay, but still. Why not?
Yeah. Why not?
Oh, and back to what brought this up this interview in the first place, if you see a problem with what the tutors are doing, or not doing, or if you would like a firsthand look at the program in action, give Duke a call at (626) 445-7375, or write him at dukemargie at aol.com.
This newsletter is also on the Web at www.monroviaschoollink.com.
This is one of those special newsletters, about an aspect of the school district that you don't necessarily see at the board meetings. In this case, it is an interview with the head of the Pro-Active Tutoring (PAT) program, Duke Freyermuth. He's an interesting guy, who, by the way, says that if you'd like to seen the program in action, just give him a call or send him an email. By the way, if there's some aspect of the district you wonder about, send me a note and maybe I'll do a story about it.
~ brad@sacklunch.net
I got together with Freyermuth at the Monrovia Coffee Company at the suggestion of Joel Shawn at the district office (actually, Shawn didn't suggest the coffee shop, just that we get together, but you probably guessed that). Anyway, I came to the meeting a bit warily because I had a suspicion that this interview was in response to a critical letter about the PAT program from a parent who wrote to say she saw some tutors chit-chatting instead of tutoring, so I figured this was going to be about setting me straight.
So, with this thought in mind, I sat down for a chat.
Freyermuth is retired now, if you can call it that. He worked for the district for 32 years as a teacher and counselor, from 1968 to 2000, first at Monrovia High School then at Clifton Middle School. Then, since 2000, he's been running PAT, still working for the district, in a manner of speaking.
Basically, Freyermuth doesn't deny that the parent who wrote the letter saw tutors chatting instead of helping students ("What the parent saw probably happened," he said.) - and he wants to correct that - but overall, he said, the tutors do a great job and the program is very successful.
Specifically, he said 87 percent of students who participate in the tutoring program improve by at least one grade.
O-kay. That's a pretty impressive bottom line.
He said the program has won the California School Boards Association's Golden Bell award, that both the County of Los Angeles and El Monte are interested in doing their own versions of the program, and that "the biggest barometer" is the teachers, who are very enthusiastic about the results.
Duke (Can I call you Duke, Duke?) said be began the tutoring program with Citrus College students and some of the Maryknoll Sisters, who have a community in Monrovia. From that it has expanded to - if I'm counting the names correctly on the sheet he gave me - 40 tutors at every school except Mayflower, which - for weird reasons I don't wish to get into - needs to have a separate tutoring program. It has also expanded from offering help to at-risk students to offering open-to-all after-school help.
He said the tutors, who are paid about $8 an hour, have $6 an hour of their wages paid by the Federal Work Study program, which leaves $2 an hour, which is covered by various Monrovia community groups. Monrovia, he said, is generous. "Almost everywhere I've asked, I've gotten help." Cost to the district? Nothing.
The tutors, Duke said, get about four training sessions per year. He said they are specifically told to press the students about what they need help on. He said that if you just ask a student if he needs help or if his homework is done, he or she - from shyness or whatever - will almost always say that everything is fine. So the tutors need to push a little, and say, "Well, let's go over what you've been working on."
With its success in Monrovia, Duke has expanded his vision. He's thinking in terms of a Tutoring Corps. He figures we already have a Peace Corp and a Job Corp. Why not a Tutoring Corps? Why not call up Oprah and get her to plug the idea? Why not get the state to fund the idea? (Uhh. Bad time to ask the state for money, Duke.) Okay, but still. Why not?
Yeah. Why not?
Oh, and back to what brought this up this interview in the first place, if you see a problem with what the tutors are doing, or not doing, or if you would like a firsthand look at the program in action, give Duke a call at (626) 445-7375, or write him at dukemargie at aol.com.
This newsletter is also on the Web at www.monroviaschoollink.com.
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