Tutoring History

Tutoring History
Overview of the Tutoring Program

The tutoring, mentoring and classroom discussion program represents one of the two major manpower efforts for SFAFS volunteers (the other is science fair advising and judging). Our volunteers, mostly physical scientists or engineers, are comfortable providing assistance in all areas of math, chemistry and physics. We have fewer volunteers who can help with biology.

Most of the tutoring effort works in a "walk-in" style: at Capital, Santa Fe High and Santa Fe Community College, tutors assemble in the same rooms at the same times each week and students come for assistance. At other venues (e.g. the Larragoite Academy and the Santa Fe Indian School), the tutors go to organized classrooms and provide help there.) All of the activities are supervised by a faculty member at the school in question.

The range of hourly contributions by volunteers is large: some come a few hours per week while others contribute hundreds of hours over a year. The overall impact in terms of contact with students has been quite significant (please see the attached graphs). SFAFS volunteers have contributed more than 5500 hours over the last five years, involving about 6500 student interactions. Providing such resources from the schools involved would be prohibitively expensive, especially in today's economy.

SFAFS offers tutors payment of $15 per contact hour. Most decline in favor of contributing their work pro bono.

HIgh School and Community College tutoring

Santa Fe has three large high schools (Capital High, Santa Fe High, St. Michael's Parochial), ten much smaller high schools (charter and private schools), and Santa Fe Community College (SFCC). Our programs have been very active at Santa Fe High and Santa Fe Community College, and less so at Capital High. Recently we've begun smaller-scale programs at the Larragoite Academy and the Santa Fe Indian School.

(2007-8): The program began in Fall, 2007 at Santa Fe High, tutoring physics at lunchtimes (two days a week) and contributing to an existing SFHS after-school tutoring program covering all subjects (M-Th, two hours/day). Each effort operated in a "walk-in" manner. About ten SFAFS tutors contributed ~750 contact hours over the year. At 45 minutes per student, this represents ~1000 student contacts. Unfortunately, the after-school program was terminated at the end of the Spring, 2008 term due to funding issues at SFPS.

(2008-9): In Fall, 2008, physics tutoring by SFAFS continued at Santa Fe high over lunch hour two days per week. However, our level of effort was now substantially lower due to the cancellation of the SFPS-sponsored afternoon tutoring program. In Spring, 2009 the lunch program was discontinued in favor of a new SFAFS-sponsored tutoring effort in all science and math subjects at Capital High (Saturdays only for two hours) and Santa Fe High (MTuW afternoons, 1.5 hours/day). Fourteen individual tutors contributed ~355 contact hours over the year (~633 student interactions) at the two schools, most of them in the Spring semester.

(2009-10): In Fall, 2009, tutoring continued at Capital (after school Tu-Th for 1.5 hours; Saturday mornings for two hours) and at Santa Fe High (Tu-W afternoons for 1.5 hours). Involvement at Capital stopped at the end of the Fall term because the school could provide its own paid faculty tutors. Santa Fe High tutoring continued through the Spring, 2010 term, and began during that time at SFCC. Twenty-two SFAFS tutors contributed ~588 contact hours (~1226 student interactions) to these efforts.

(2010-11): Tutoring continued throughout the year at Santa Fe High and SFCC. Seventeen SFAFS tutors contributed ~735 contact hours (~1200 student interactions). By a ratio of 2:1, most of the effort was expended at SFCC (see graphs below). Generally speaking, one sees more committed students at SFCC. This is attractive to volunteers.

(2011-12): The program expanded this year to include beginning efforts at Larragoite Academy and the Santa Fe Indian School, but the lion's share of the work continued at SFCC (see graphs below) and SFHS. Twenty-two SFAFS volunteers provided ~1264 contact hours to ~2423 students, ~1624 of which took place at the Community College.

(2012-13): The program encountered an overall fall-off in total participation, which was most severe percentage-wise at SFHS and less so at SFCC. On the other hand, participation increased at the Larragoite Academy. We are looking into why these changes occurred, and will adjust next year's program accordingly.

(2013-14): In light of the administrative leadership changes in SFPS, the program is being re-thought in terms of possible new priorities and objectives. The program continued much as in previous years, though further slight decreases in student interactions are noted at SFHS and SFCC; these are correlated to some extent to a decline in volunteer contact hours at those schools. On the other hand, the Larragoite program gained strength and the tutor program at Capital High (CHS) was restarted in the second semester.