General Guidelines

Below are some general guidelines for principals and site coordinators. In you have any questions or concerns, please contact America Reads & Counts by email.

We will be providing you with a roster of the tutors assigned to your site. If your site is a school, please know that we do not assign tutors to specific teachers. Only principals or their designees may do that. We assign tutors to schools and, from there, principals make the classroom assignments. This is a paid, work-study program, not a volunteer program. Tutors have a set schedule and are expected to follow it. If tutors are not reliable or helpful, they should be reported to us and we will take corrective action.

Tutors are instructed to dress in a manner that shows respect for the students, teachers, and others at the site. They are instructed not to wear hats in the building, not to use iPods, etc., and to turn off cell phones while in the building. If tutors violate these instructions, please feel free to correct them, or to inform us if it continues via the Policy Violation form. Please let us know if and as problems present themselves rather than waiting until the end of the year. If necessary, we will terminate the tutor's participation in this program.

Sign-in Sheets

The site coordinator or principal must have a designated location for the tutors to sign in and out at the beginning and end of their shifts. The sign-in sheets must also be sent to our office on a daily or weekly basis via fax or email, so we can verify their attendance for payroll.

Holidays

We do not require tutors to work on UMass Dartmouth holidays, even if the public schools are open. However, tutors may work on these days if they desire. In all cases, they are required to keep their site coordinator and/or teacher informed of whether or not they will be working at specific times. For example, UMass Dartmouth's fall semester ends on December 8 and the University does not reopen until January 19. Tutors may choose not to work or to work extended or different hours during this time, but they must inform their teachers of their plans and have permission from both the office and the site to work. Similarly, UMass Dartmouth's Spring Break differs from that of the public schools. Tutors are not required to work, but are required to keep the school informed of their plans.

Tutors in the Classroom

• Tutors may do any academic tasks with students that a teacher or site coordinator requests, in any subject area.
• Tutors should be assigned only academic tasks, not clerical or administrative tasks (except on rare occasions).
• Tutors may grade papers, but only for students with whom they work. They should not be expected to be the person to grade all tests, homework, etc.
• Tutors should always work under the direction and supervision of a teacher or site coordinator. They should never be alone with students. They may not be used as substitute teachers.
• Tutors may be assigned to work with more than one teacher.
• Tutors working a shift that includes lunch or recess may have lunch with children or spend time on the playground with children, but may not be the person assigned to supervise the children in those settings.