COLORADO SPRINGS — Tutoring is part of a growing list of approaches schools districts are exploring to help students this summer who have struggled during the pandemic. News5 learned how two local students behind "Tutors For Change" plan to do their part to help.
When the pandemic first started impacting students, two Discovery Canyon grads launched their own non-profit "Tutors For Change" offering online tutoring for 99-cents an hour.
We reported on Arjun Kudinoor and his classmate Kaleb Neal in July of last year when they launched the tutoring serviceand now Tutors For Change has provided assistance for more than 300 students and currently has more than 150 volunteer tutors.
Now, in addition to the tutoring services, the organization is offering several courses and workshops for K-12 students from June 7 to July 25.
Kudinoor says he shares the concerns of many educators when it comes to learning loss during the pandemic and in the summer months.
"I'm sure every student is struggling in some way coping with online learning even though we've had it for an entire year. There's still a lot of educational disparity between one year ago and what's going on right now and even moving forward into the fall some students are going to be behind and we want to help those students," said Kudinoor.
Tutors For Change is a service available for students anywhere in southern Colorado and aims to provide help to any students who need it across the country. The virtual environment keeps everyone connected and donations to Tutors For Change help to pay for background checks on all of the tutors involved.
A study by the Northwest Evaluation Association looked at learning loss during a typical summer. The 2015 study looked at 5,800 school districts spanning the nation. It found that third grade students lost almost 20% of the reading skills and 27% of the math skills during the summer. For older students, the research found, summer learning losses increased. Eighth grade students in the study lost, on average, 36% in reading and 50% in math progress.
Kudinoor says when Tutors For Change was launched it was with low income students in mind and with the hope to address the need for affordable tutoring.
"Because they are the ones who can't afford outside educational services beyond the online platform services they use through their school. So, services like Tutors For Change have helped low income students and other students get access to education and the help that they need. So, there's definitely going to be some loss, but hopefully through our efforts and efforts like ours are going to help offset those," said Kudinoor.
If you are interested in signing your student up for affordable tutoring, special summer sessions, or maybe you'd like to join as a volunteer tutor visit https://www.tutorsforchange.org/summer
