Healthy Cities Tutoring (HCT) constantly looks for new ways to support its students. Based on recent teacher feedback and student test scores, HCT has concluded that middle school students need the most help with math and is taking action on this issue.
HCT is a non-profit organization based in San Carlos and Redwood City that started in 1996. They offer free one-on-one tutoring to students ranging from kindergarten to eighth grade.
HCT covers a wide range of subjects, including reading, writing, and math. According to Georganne Morin, the executive director of HCT, math is generally students’ weakest area. The organization has found that many students struggle to keep up with grade-level math simply because they miss basic math skills in prior classes.
As a result, many ninth-grade students struggle in math class as their middle school curriculum did not equip them with the skills required for a more rigorous high school math curriculum, but HCT has a plan to address this issue.
“We are launching a middle school math program that is part of our middle school math initiative in the fall of 2023,” Morin said.
According to Morin, HCT is working with local school districts to create a curriculum that gives middle school students the extra support they need, targeting the areas of math that students find the most challenging. Though this is a new program, HCT plans to implement its past success of using existing qualified teen tutors and finding new students passionate about math to become new tutors.
Many HCT tutors are high schoolers looking to go into a professional field that works with kids, such as teaching. For example, Carlmont senior Noe Foehr has been a volunteer tutor for two years.
“I decided to be a Healthy Cities tutor because I love working with kids and might want to become a teacher someday. So far, it has been fun and a great way to gain experience,” Foehr said.
HCT benefits from students like Foehr because the more passionate the tutor is in the given subject, the more excellent knowledge the student can gain from experience.
“This spring, HCT plans to present the visions of the new middle school math program at high schools to recruit students passionate about math to tutor for the program,” Morin said. “We want to do the recruiting as soon as possible to get students matched up and get them going early in the school year.”
According to Morin, HCT plans to create perfect pairs between tutor and student to make the middle school math program even more successful.
HCT has many devoted employees and volunteers, whose work accounts for a large portion of the nonprofit’s success, according to Morin. Hazel Stabinsky has been part of the HCT team for six years.
“There are many students out there who need help, and I find it very rewarding to know that these kids are getting that additional layer to set themselves up for success,” Stabinsky said.
In the coming weeks, schools in the area, like Carlmont, will receive more information on what it means to be a tutor for the middle school math program.
“To have the most success with the program, we want to focus on people that want to help students with math and students who want help with math,” Morin said.
