Healthy Cities Tutoring

1) English Language Development Program Pilot:Students who are learning English in order to become bilingual make up a large portion of students in the schools served by Healthy Cities Tutoring, especially in our partner Redwood City schools. Students who are designated as English Language Learners struggle to attain grade-level parity with their English speaking peers as they strive to learn English. At the request of the principal of Taft Elementary School in Redwood City, HCT created and piloted an English Language Development (ELD) program to help 2nd and 3rd grade English language learners (ELL) increase their English Language skills and prepare for the reclassification exam that is administered to ELL students each spring. The ELD program will be an enhancement to the standard Healthy Cities Tutoring program. HCT created a curriculum and training materials for the pilot program. The curriculum is aligned with the 2012 California English Language Development Standards and includes practice in; Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing. Sessions also include opportunities for students to work on activitiesand questions similar to those that they will see on the English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) tests that English Language Learners take each year,HCT recruited ten ELD tutaors and trained them specifically in tutoring ELLstudents. Tutors were then matched with 10 - 2nd and 3rd grade ELL students. Tutors met with their students once a wekk. Sessions included; interactive read-alouds, practice activities from the ELD curriculum and group English Language games.2) New Programsa) Siena Youth Center:This year, HCT formed a partnership with Siena Youth Center (SYC). SYC is located in the heart of the unincorporated North Fair Oaks neighborhood in Redwood City and serves some of the most vulnerable students in the Redwood City School District (RCSD).HCT staff worked with SYC staff to match volunteer tutors with struggling students. Tutors were recruited from Redwood City and surrounding areas and students attended a number of different RCSD schools. SYC staff reported that the program was successful, not only for the benefit of the participating students, but helped create a culture of tutoring at the SYC. We plan to expand this program next year, serving more students.b) McKinley Middle School:McKinley Middle School is one of two middle schools in RCSD. Students from several of our K-5 programs (Taft,Henry Ford) metriculate to McKinley for middle school. By Partnering with McKinley, we are now able to continue tutoring participating students who atten McKinley for middle school. mWe began the program this year as a pilot, matching 10 students with tutors. Becaue of the success of the program, the school administration has asked us to expand the program to at least 15 students next year.3) New Partnerships:a) Boys and Girls Clubs of the Peninsula:HCT formed a partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula (BGCP) in which members of their Keystone Leadership Club came to Taft every Wednesday to tutor students in the ELD program. Six students, all Latina young women, many of whom were ELL students when they were younger, were matched with 2nd and 3rd grade ELL girls. This partnership proved to be impactful for both the high school leadership students and the students who were being tutored. As a result, both HCT and BGCP plan to continue and expand this partnership next year.b) Sacred Heart Prep:HCT formed a partnership with Sacred Heart Preparatory (SHP) in Atherton. Because of the faith connection, SHP already partnered with Siena Youth Center. Every Tuesday, SHP staff would transport students in a van to the SYC for students to help as drop-in tutors. Working with SHP staff, we created a program in which students who seemed particularly interested in tutoring at SYC were recruited to join HCT as 1:1 tutors. Joining HCT alllowed these students to make deeper connection with SYC students. Several students joined HCT from SHP and really enjoyed the experience. Several SHP students plan to continue and we have received inquiries from several more.