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The social program I have opted to evaluate is the peer tutoring program at my International School. The focus of this program is to assist students who are struggling academically with course content. Students are first identified by their teacher and then referred to the Guidance Department to be enrolled in the program. Students are then paired with a student who has already completed the course and achieved a high grade. The main focus is to provide students with extra support to ensure that they have a better opportunity of being successful in the course and obtaining their credit. However, students can also be referred to a subset of the peer tutoring program called "Buddy Up", which in essence is a peer tutoring program but is more related to social emotional issues rather than academic concerns. The Buddy Up program is designed for students who are finding it difficult to transition to the school as a new student, or even from middle school to high school.
Folsom High School. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.fcusd.org/Page/1761
Sir Winston Churchill Secondary. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://sirwinston.dsbn.org/guidance/tutors
Gale, J. [Janel Gale]. (2015, Feb 2). Benefits of Peer Tutoring. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km-YZUzLK_g
The staff at the school is composed of 66 teachers, however, the number of teachers involved in the program differs each semester based on the needs of the students. Primarily, the program is overseen by the two guidance counselors, the high school facilitator, the two teachers who are solely in charge of the Buddy Up portion of the program, and then subsequently the classroom teachers who have students enrolled in the program. In terms of resources, the resources required are the course materials, and time. Fortunately, we have many areas around the school that are designated study areas, so there are plenty of places where students can conduct their tutoring sessions during school hours. Furthermore, all students in High School are allocated one study period per day, so this is optimal time for the tutoring sessions to be conducted on a weekly basis.
The program targets students who are struggling. A main focus in addition to course content is also ESL. Since it is at an International School in Malaysia, there is a large portion of the 800 students at the school who are English Language Learners and who also need support in this way. The population of the school is as follows: 60% of students are local (i.e. Malaysian) and 40% are International, ranging from primarily SEA, some other Asian and Middle Eastern countries, as well as a few students from Europe or North America.
Upon conducting the program evaluation, I will need to collect data regarding the number of students who were involved in the program over the past academic year (2018) and compare their achievement prior to commencing the program and upon completing the program. I also think it would be helpful to not only look at the raw data but to also conduct interviews with some teachers and students (both tutors and tutees) to find out how effective they believe the program to be.
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