Cover Page
The family tutoring program is a welfare program that is supported by the California State University Dominguez Hills Foundation. The California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) is a four-year public university located minutes drive from downtown Los Angeles and South Bay beaches in the city of Carson. We are one of the 23 campuses that make up the California State University system. This program works to student with extra study time in order to excel in education. The students covered by this program include those ones in the university as well as their kinds who are in school (K-12 children).
In the last one year the number of students who want to be enrolled in our project has increased but our budget does not provide a room for expansion. In light of this shortage, we are kindly requesting for a $100, 000 grant from Wesley Foundation. We believe that this grant will go a long way in meeting these students need. Receiving a $100,000 grant from the Wesley Foundation will ensure the successful growth the Family Tutoring Program which will impact the future of more students and their children by providing the necessary skills and assist them in achieving their full potential. We would be honored to be among those who have earned the support of the Wesley Foundation.
Program summary
The Identified Need
Because of the poor education system that is failing our schools, parents have to educate their children on their own. With this excellent program, this gives the capability of taking pressure off of parents and allowing our program to assist with all questions and needs. We have qualified tutors who go through different levels of evaluations in order to maintain their excellent service. This gives parents the opportunity to instill college’s values along with ensuring clarity for themselves and family members.
Project Goal
The goal of this program is to provide adequate and informational skills in troubled areas such as reading, math or writing. We are confident that our students, as well as, their family members will obtain the necessary skills to succeed. This is a great experience for children to experience hands on knowledge of being on a college campus ground and to instill college opportunities.
Project Concept
Family Tutoring Program (FTP) is a service that collaborates with the American Reads federal work study program which brings free tutoring services to colleges students and their family. The concept of this organization is to inspire all California State University Dominguez Hill students who are in need of help in reading, writing or math to attend our free tutoring program. This program allows students who have children in kindergarten through 12th grade free tutoring sessions with their homework
Location of The Project
The project will be carried out in the California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH). This is because it is supposed to benefit students attending this university. Additionally, these students live in the university neighborhood, thus the can attend lesson in the evenings and during weekends.
Our Strategy
In order to achieve our goals the foundation ensures that tutors involved in the project are aware of the needs of the society and changes that are taking place in our education system. Special needs of every student are taken into consideration during the allocation of lessons. Incase clients need more time on a topic a lesson is extended in order to accommodate them. Students in the program are treated in a very respectable manner and they enjoy the support of tutors fully. Advertisement is one of the key pillars of our program because we want to reach to the entire university community. In order to utilize it fully, a very strong advertising network have been established in all campuses.
Program Benefits
All those who participate in the program stand to benefit in the following ways. For all Participants retention is improved, and a sense of self as a successful learner is enhanced. Families spend time together studying and learning. Parents receive tutoring for their university course work children participate in an after school homework assistance program on the University campus that their parents attend; the college experience is demystified for the children by attending tutoring at the University.
The University students serving as tutors benefit by gaining experience in a teaching and learning in their campus. They gain experience by applying strategies and skills obtained in University classroom which is also reinforced through the immediate application and use as tutor/teacher. This program also forms a source of income since they are compensated for their work. The program also helps to satisfy the CCCT requirement that students must have a minimum of 30 hours of observational educational setting allowing students to determine their desire to teach or to pursue a different career focus. This teaching experience may prove to be the only one that the student has by the time they are leaving campus.
Project Budget
The money is provided by the CSUDH foundation. However, the amount that is needed for expansion cannot be raised by the foundation. Therefore, through a grant from Wesley Foundation the CSUDH foundation will expand the existing facilities in order to accommodate the large number of students enrolled in our program.
Wesley foundation grants will enable us hire additional tutors, have more supplies and increasing the number of hours the Family Tutoring Program center is open, to adequately serve more students and children. It is our goal to increase the total number of lab hours by 25% to reach 6,000 lab hours by the end of the 2008-09 academic year. This is due to the fact that the Family Tutoring Program has a direct impact on the lives of the hundreds of students and children by providing them with the skills that enable their success today and throughout their academic lives.
Current success
The family tutoring program has achieved tangible results in the last five months. This is due to the fact that 700 hours have been provided to the adults while children’s have benefited from 1,600 lab hours. In order to arrive at these figures we have adopted the Wide Range Assessment Test program which analysis quantitative and qualitative data. In addition, all participates were included in this evaluation and this made our evaluation to be very accurate and reliable.
Future Direction
The program bound to expand as more people discover about its existence. We will continue with our expansion program until every one in the university is recruited in the program. This is due to the fact that increased family participation provides for grater awareness of the needs and demands of the college student. We also believe that such a project speaks to the campus mission of servings a valuable community resource. We also believe that the Family tutoring program can be replicated on other University campuses for added student success and we intend to disseminate the results of our project.
Program Evaluation
Any given program that is initiated has set goals that have to be met. In order to ascertain that we have achieved our goals, we evaluate the performance of tutors and the students. Tutors are evaluated through staff observation, through an analysis of questionnaires and evaluation of forms that are filled by parents and children. In addition, we keep track of the performance of the students through grade point average and children report card improvement. Tutor performance appraisals enable staff to identify, evaluate and develop an individual’s performance and are used as a tool to encourage strong tutors to maintain a level of excellence.
Program Administration
Overall administration of the program is the responsibility of Dr. Caron Mellblom, Director of CLASS, who has an PhD in Special Education with an emphasis on adults with learning disabilities. Ricardo Alvarado, Assistant Director of Family Tutoring and the America Reads project at CSUDH. He has a BS in Psychology and is a graduate student in the Psychology program who oversees the daily activities, program tutors, and development of materials. Along with Dr. Mellblom, Ricardo is responsible for hiring, training and supervising tutors who work with children, coordinating the tutoring sessions, and developing and filling material needs.
Conclusion
The program is all about improving the well being of the society through education. We believe that education is a key factor in the well being of the entire society. We believe that your assistance will go long way in ensuring that we achieve our dreams.
References
Dianne, H. (2008): The Complete Guide To Writing Effective & Award Winning Grants: Step-By-Step Instructions. New York.Atlantic Publishing Company