ROCHESTER, N.Y. —Specialized tutors from AmeriCorps are now pushing into some of RCSD’s pre-K classrooms to work directly with 3 and 4-year-olds on early reading and math skills.
AmeriCorps launched the Early Learning Corps a few years ago in a handful of districts downstate. The Rochester City School District is the first to participate locally and started welcoming the tutors into a few of its pre-K programs earlier this school year.
“A recent report showed that 50% of Rochester students were not kindergarten ready and Early Learning Corps has a proven program that’s research-based so, we know that we can give students in Rochester what they need,” says Matt Lindstrom, who is an Early Learning Corps coaching specialist.
The tutors push into classrooms to get a feel for the kids who will most benefit from a little extra help. Based on the results of that benchmarking, they can determine what students are eligible for interventions. “Those tutors begin to pull those students for interventions at about 10 to 15-minute intervals,” Lindstrom explains.
Groups of two or three students learn the basics in a fun environment, “we allow them to give their ideas and then practice whatever we’re teaching and afterwards we tell them how proud of them we are, we give them big hugs or we do little dance sessions, whatever they like, we give that to the and the entire time, we’re building their confidence,” says Early Learning Corps tutor, Lexi Gibson.
Gibson was born and raised in Rochester and is an RCSD graduate herself, “I’m very much well aware of the help that we need, so I got into volunteering a lot in our community and a lot of my volunteer work has been with children,” she tells News10NBC.
She’s hoping the work they’re doing will help the next generation of RCSD students move the needle a little more when it comes to reading and math proficiency rates. During the 2023-24 school year, just 18.8% of RCSD 3rd graders were considered proficient in ELA (English Language Arts) but that was up from just 15% the year before. When it comes to math, only about 4% of 8th graders were considered “proficient” last year, up from just 3.8% in 2023.
“Seeing their progress is the best part about it, knowing that you are doing things for them and it actually is working,” Gibson says.
Some of the tutors themselves are future or retired teachers but most are folks who realized the need and stepped up to be trained. They get a stipend for their time and an education grant for themselves or a loved one when their service is complete.
“We’re looking to expand substantially, so we started with 12 tutors this year and we’re serving about 169 students right now. Next year, we’re looking to have 45 tutors and serve 800 students,” Lindstrom says.
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