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In
terms of cost and efficiency, the National Education Project
has been deliberately designed to use
the resources that already exist in nearly every community
in the nation; that is, undergraduates tutoring in
established, not-for-profit elementary schools, and under
the direct supervision of classroom teachers.
As
a result, in terms of cost, simplicity of operation, and effectiveness,
this Project has the following advantages:
- There
are no expenditures for buildings or books. The undergraduates
are permitted to work only in existing schools, and they
use the books and instructional materials already in the
classroom.
- No
funds are spent for "consultants" to provide a
new "methodology." The undergraduates simply use
the methodology of the classroom teacher.
- Because
the tutoring is done as part of a college course, the undergraduates
are reliable, accountable on a daily basis, and remarkably
effective.
- The
undergraduates tutor during the regular school day; as a
result, it is fairly easy for the elementary schools to
work the tutors into the normal routine of the school.
- There
is no cost whatsoever to the elementary schools or to the
children who are tutored by the undergraduates.
- The
undergraduates are not paid to do the tutoring.
- Each
undergraduate in this Project is required to produce a minimum
of 50 hours of tutoring per semester (that is, five hours
of tutoring per week x the 10 weeks in a semester), and
they are required to sign in and sign out for each tutoring
session.
As a result, the tutors from one program will produce a
total of 7,250 hours of tutoring during the five-year grant
period; that is, 145 undergraduates x 50 hours of tutoring
produced by each undergraduate.
- At
the end of each semester, the classroom teachers provide
the college faculty member with the Classroom Teacher's
One-Page, End-of-Semester Evaluation Form, which measures
the advances of the children in reading, writing, and mathematics
during the previous semester.
The college faculty member, in turn, provides copies of
these evaluations to the National Education Project at the
end of each semester; that is, one evaluation form for each
undergraduate enrolled in the course.
Please see Results
of the Tutoring for several actual evaluations
prepared by classroom teachers.
- Since
the undergraduates pay tuition to the college to take these
courses, each college, if it chooses to do so, will be able
to offer the course after the Project's five-year, $50,000
"start-up" grant ends, since the course in the
sixth year would be funded by the tuition of the undergraduates
who enroll in the sixth year; the course in the seventh
year would be funded by the tuition of the undergraduates
who enroll in the seventh year; and so forth.
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