Tutor-ND connects tutors to cognitive science. We have three inter-connected aims: (a) expanding access to high-impact tutoring, (b) forming human talent by training and supporting tutors through interdisciplinary learning design teams, and (c) advancing fundamental knowledge of learning and learning environments. This initiative draws on expertise from many units at Notre Dame and over 20 community organizations that offer tutoring programs, including South Bend Community schools, Elkhart and St. Joseph Counties Head Start Consortium, Boys and Girls Club of the Northern Indiana Corridor, the Tolson Center, and schools locally and nationally that work with ACE Teaching Fellows. We connect tutors to high-quality training and support as part of collaborative learning design teams made up of leading academic scholars in the learning and cognitive sciences, teacher educators, clinical psychologists, instructional coaches, tutors, paraprofessionals, and other educators. Tutors learn to build caring relationships with their students and provide the attention, interaction, and dialogue that children need for optimal learning. Our full support tutoring resources are based on the evidence-based programs and recommendations found in the IES What Works Clearinghouse, and tutors learn to tailor them to children's interests and learning goals. Tutors work with students on a range of learning goals-- from developing and practicing specific foundational skills to enrichment and acceleration. We support tutors who serve in both in-person and virtual programs.
Our mission is to expand educational opportunities. We are dedicated to transparency and open resources, and we are willing to share materials, provide training, and support any school or nonprofit community organization's tutoring program. We are working to improving our structures and systems to facilitate potential expansion and better serve our community.
To learn more, please check out our FAQs section.
One of our closest partners, SBCSC, has made remarkable gains since teaming up with us in 2021 to improve K–3 literacy and raise IREAD-3 pass rates. In 2021, just 53.7% of third graders passed IREAD-3, the state’s high-stakes reading assessment. By 2024, that number had increased to 62.1%. This 8.4 percentage point gain is statistically significantly higher than the average gain of 1.9 points in comparable Indiana public schools matched on 2021 pass rates. It places SBCSC in the top 15% of schools statewide for growth in IREAD-3 pass rates!
This is what collaborative, mutually beneficial research-practice partnerships can achieve. Progress like this reflects the COLLECTIVE EFFORT of hundreds of administrators, instructional coaches, teachers, aides, tutors, parents, and community members working together to support South Bend's children!
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