Broward County Adopts Online Tutoring

Broward County Public School District (FL) will offer one-to-one online tutoring to 3,100 ninth graders in six high schools who must now take an end-of-course algebra proficiency exam. The program is supported through Title I funds, and provided by Tutor.com, whose network includes over two thousand professional tutors and career specialists.

Students will receive additional support from professional, online algebra tutors during the school day and after school from any computer with Internet access. Tutors will help students master skills and concepts, complete homework assignments and prepare for exams. Ninth graders may also connect to a tutor for help in science, social studies or English coursework.

Tutor.com is currently in use at school districts across the country including East Baton Rouge Parish School District (LA), Park City School District (CO), South Delta School District (MI), and New York City Department of Education’s School of One.

The on-demand tutoring services work with the existing curriculum to increase students’ relevant time on task. When a student gets stuck on a homework assignment, is studying for an exam or didn’t understand the day’s lesson, he or she can connect to a subject-qualified tutor for personalized assistance – without an appointment.

The student and tutor work together in real-time, using an online classroom that features an interactive whiteboard, application and file sharing, and co-browsing. Students and tutors provide summary information and ratings of each session. The Broward County Public School District will be able to use data from the program to help identify where students are struggling and to document the topics they are mastering as a result of on-demand tutoring support.

“We know from helping millions of students that on-demand access to qualified help is the key to preventing small problems from becoming larger, long-term learning issues,” said George Cigale, founder and CEO of Tutor.com. “This is especially true in challenging, gateway courses such as algebra which rely on students having a complete and thorough understanding of fundamental skills that will play a role in later math and science coursework.”

Broward County Public Schools is the nation's sixth largest public school system and the largest fully accredited district with over 234,600 students in more than 230 schools and education centers.