Tutor at school decision

[SKL]

Today I got a note from the school tutor.  It says Miss A has been identified as a child who could benefit from the tutor's services.  They want me to sign a paper allowing her to be pulled out of class for 30 minutes, 2-3 times per week, supposedly to work on whatever is best for her.  However, they say it may be small group OR one-on-one.

 

I didn't say yea or nay, but I said I want to discuss it before I decide.  I asked them to contact me to set up a time to talk.

 

I am very ambivalent about this for 3rd grade.  The cons in my mind:

• Missing class instruction
• Having to make up class work on recess or home time
• Being socially singled out
• Not really benefiting from group pull-out
• Past pull-outs simply gave her dumbed-down work instead of addressing the real issues.

The pros? 

• She does benefit a lot from one-on-one assistance.
• If they would truly help her at school, it would take some pressure off at home.
• It could take some pressure off at school if it meant she was given more grace when she doesn't keep up.

I don't know what they will think of my note.  I am also not really sure what I want to ask them.  Some things I want to know:

• Can she have one-on-one only and skip the group stuff?
• What classes will she be pulled out of?
• How do we make sure she doesn't miss what is taught in class?
• Will she work on the same work as the other students, or something else?
• Will they communicate with me?

What else do I want to know, and what would you do?  Is it very weird to say "no thanks" to pull-out tutoring?

[kiwik]

can you request a meeting with the tutor. Also how much is she struggling? Here it would have to be pretty bad to get extra help.

[lmrich]

Ask the school. My sister is a tutor in a school, she is works closely with the classroom teacher so key instruction time is not missed.

[beishan]

Our school calls it instructional review and is taught by certified teacher. My son was pulled for writing last year. It's small group 2x per week. On the back to school night, I had chance to meet with instructional review teacher before I turned in the consent form. From the work folder that returned by the end of year, they did a lot of works within that 30 minutes. Our school has developed individual study instruction plan (ISIP) for each student who will be in instructional review. I got separated report card/progress sheet for it. The curriculum will go with the goal set in ISIP at the beginning of year. And yes, sometimes my son was not happy to be pulled because he did not get enough time to finish his classroom assignment or quiz and he had to make it up afterward. But he did not feel socially singled out as there were often 1 or 2 other kids from the class will go with him.

[TGHEALTHYMOM]

I know that there can be stigma attached to in school tutoring.  Our dd14 is dropping Spanish for Choir so she can study Algebra and History more.  If she does not bring her grades up, she will be put in different classes they call Academy.  One is Academic and one is for behavior.   She dreads going and wants to bring her grades up.  It's either study more at home or go to the Academy classes.  

[Cera]

I would definitely want to know who the tutor would be.  Our schools have various tutoring programs that range from certified teachers to volunteers.  I know that there is no guarantee about the quality (or lack of) based on qualifications on paper but I would be hesitant to allow it for my child if it was a minimum wage, minimum education required position (as one of the tutoring jobs in our district is).

[SKL]

I used to be a volunteer reading tutor, so I have nothing against them.  The kids I tutored were at a much lower level than Miss A.  Even so, I think there were a couple of kids who outgrew the benefits of the Title 1 class I was volunteering in.  It didn't strike me then, but now I wonder what they may have missed by being pulled out of class unnecessarily.  That might be even more of an issue nowadays with the higher standards / demands.

 

I have a copy of the 3rd grade schedule.  It's pretty packed with substantive stuff.  I don't see stretches of time for free reading and "independent morning work" like they had in 2nd grade.  I don't see much that I'd want Miss A to miss.

[Reefgazer]

In DS's school last year, kids who were pulled for tutoring went in early, stayed later at the end of the day, or were pulled from art/music/PE. 

I used to be a volunteer reading tutor, so I have nothing against them.  The kids I tutored were at a much lower level than Miss A.  Even so, I think there were a couple of kids who outgrew the benefits of the Title 1 class I was volunteering in.  It didn't strike me then, but now I wonder what they may have missed by being pulled out of class unnecessarily.  That might be even more of an issue nowadays with the higher standards / demands.

 

I have a copy of the 3rd grade schedule.  It's pretty packed with substantive stuff.  I don't see stretches of time for free reading and "independent morning work" like they had in 2nd grade.  I don't see much that I'd want Miss A to miss.

 

[SKL]

In DS's school last year, kids who were pulled for tutoring went in early, stayed later at the end of the day, or were pulled from art/music/PE. 

 

Yeah - I don't see any of those being good for Miss A.  She is a bus rider this year, and since I work at home, I can (and do) give her work after school myself.  Art, music, and PE are all important outlets for Miss A.  Replacing them with math would be very counterproductive IMO.

[Nart]

I wouldn't do it.  30 minutes, 2 to 3 times a week really isn't enough to do much for someone who is close to/ at grade level and is just enough time to disrupt a student's schedule. I think leaving class and getting back into the flow of the class is difficult for some kids. She will be missing something and might not be getting much with the tutoring. I would pass and see how the year goes particularly because you are supplementing at home. 

[Reefgazer]

Can you negotiate with them to pull her from a class where she is already strong and where she won't have to scramble to catch up the material they go over when she returns to class?

 

ETA:  When they identified her as being able to benefit from a tutor, was it in a particular subject?  If it was math, and you could find out what aspect of math, perhaps you can address that in your afterschooling.

Yeah - I don't see any of those being good for Miss A.  She is a bus rider this year, and since I work at home, I can (and do) give her work after school myself.  Art, music, and PE are all important outlets for Miss A.  Replacing them with math would be very counterproductive IMO.

 

[SKL]

So this week I finally got an email from the tutor in response to my note, but she did not provide contact info or suggest a time to call as I'd asked.  She basically said what do you want to know, so I responded with some questions.

 

I haven't heard anything since, but the other day, Miss A asked me "am I supposed to be going to Mrs. C?"  I said, "why do you ask?"  She said "I've been going, but today my teacher said I shouldn't be going unless you sign a paper.  Did you sign the paper?"  I said, "Do you want to go?" and she said yes.  I asked her some of the questions I'd asked the tutor, and she says the work they do is the same thing the other kids are doing (during math class), except they get more help working through it.

 

So I wait to see if the tutor or teacher is going to get back to me on my questions.

[kiwik]

Thanks for the update.

[LibraryLover]

SKL, that school would annoy the crud out of me. I say this with a gentle spirit. ;)

[Momofeat]

A long time ago, I was a Special Education teacher who pulled students out of their regular ed classes to work with them. Things have definitely changed since then, and I'm getting the impression that your dd isn't a Special Ed student, but maybe some of my observations, recollections, & questions will still be helpful.

 

1) As others have asked, who will be the tutor, and what is her qualifications?

 

2) What will they be doing that will make these sessions worthwhile? It sounds like somebody jumped the gun & your dd was just working on the same thing covered in the classroom. Is that really helpful, or does she need to be taught differently?

 

3) For the most part, I taught students differently from the approach used in the classroom and pulled them out of the class that covered the subject they needed help in. Frankly, I had to fight other teachers for this, but by the time I resigned after 5 years of teaching, they all agreed that the intense tutoring was best for almost all of the Learning Disabled Students. They were lost in the regular classroom anyway. The work students did for me counted as their work for that class, and they did not have to make anything up from the class they missed. This did not hurt their test scores. In fact, I had students who eventually placed out of Special Education because they received appropriate intervention and their work improved so drastically. (I even had at least 3 students whose IQ scores increased by more than 20 points--statistically significant increases.)

 

4) Stigma: If a child is struggling, they are already stigmatized. Kids always know their peers' weaknesses. Pulling them out of the classroom isn't going to make that any worse, but if the student improves significantly, then the stigma will drop. Regular ed kids BEGGED to come to my classroom every single day and were actually jealous of the ones who got to go. Even now, I'm not really sure why, lol.

 

5) As a parent, I wouldn't be happy to hear that they went ahead and tutored her without my permission, but it does sound like the classroom teacher has tried to correct the situation. That alone is worth a phone call.