Frazier offering tutoring
PERRYOPOLIS – A new after-school tutoring program in the Frazier School District will afford students in kindergarten through ninth grade the opportunity to receive nine weeks of assistance in reading and math starting in October. The program is the result of Classroom Plus, a statewide initiative that provides grants of up to $500 to parents of children who are non-proficient in both subjects.
The funding is then turned over to the school district following the program through a signed contract between both parties while parents are responsible for transportation to and from the tutoring sessions.
Patricia Thomas, curriculum and federal grants K-12 supervisor, said the district would supplement additional funding for the program if and where it is needed after it is administered.
Thomas added the number of tutoring hours would be documented for each student as well as attendance since the district recoups the funding.
Students are found eligible to participate in the program if they score below proficient levels on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) test or other state approved standardized tests or score in the 49th percentile or below based on the national percentage in math and/or reading.
For tests that don’t give a percentile score, a student is eligible with a score that reflects below grade level proficiency.
While high school and middle school students received after-school tutoring in the past, Ken Meadows, elementary principal, said the program is new at the elementary level.
Thomas said the elementary tutoring program was generated through Classroom Plus based on numerous requests from parents who had to take their children to other school districts for tutoring services in the past.
Thomas added that Frazier didn’t offer Classroom Plus in the past since it wasn’t registered with the Pennsylvania Department of Education as an “approved provider” with approved tutors.
Parents can also select a private tutor from the approved list of providers listed on the Classroom Plus Web site at www.classroomplus.k12.pa.us.
Thomas said the first nine-week session would run from Oct. 3 to Dec. 7 and the second from Feb. 29 to April 26, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. at both Perry and Central elementary schools.
The program would have up to six teachers at each building depending on enrollment with a ratio of one teacher for every five students.
The middle school would also offer the program that will run simultaneously at both grade levels with the district’s Saturday school that assists students in kindergarten though fifth grade also with reading and math for nine weeks in the fall and nine weeks in the spring.
Those classes run from Oct. 7 through Dec. 9 except for Nov. 25 and from Feb. 24 to April 28.
Frazier also offers summer programs for three hours a day, Monday through Friday for two, two-week sessions. Students receive tutoring in their respective buildings during the school year.
Thomas said school officials are in the process of identifying those students in need of the program and will be contacting parents within the next several weeks as well as sending out applications.
The applications can also be downloaded from the Classroom Plus Web site.