jews d
in
the
One-On-One
E
ach week, nearly 600 local
professionals take a half-
hour out of their workday
to read with a student — all
without leaving the office.
The employees from Quicken
Loans, General Motors, Chase
Bank, Comerica Bank, DTE
Energy and many others are
volunteers with TutorMate, a
virtual tutoring program from
the nonprofit Innovations for
Learning.
The program started in
Chicago in 2005, expanded next
to New York City and added
JOYCE WISWELL
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
ABOVE: Former Detroiter
Dan Weisberg with a happy
student who participates in
TutorMate sessions.
RIGHT: A student
connects with a tutor via
the phone and computer
weekly for 30 minutes.
22
November 23 • 2017
jn
ROBIN ARM PHOTOGRAPHY
Through
TutorMate,
former Detroiter
and local
volunteers
help Detroit
Public Schools
students.
cated to improving literacy. “No
Detroit as its third location in
teacher could spend that time
2009. It’s now in some 17 ele-
with each kid individually.”
mentary schools in the Detroit
TutorMate has worked with
Public Schools (DPS) system
individual principals in DPS,
and the goal is to include it in
but Weisberg said he hopes the
each of the district’s first-grade
program will grow with DPS’
classes.
new superintendent, Dr. Nikolai
Dan Weisberg, TutorMate’s
Vitti, who was familiar with it at
national director, noted that
his former post in Florida.
by the time children are in the
“We expect to work more
third grade, how well they read
— or don’t — is a strong indica- closely with the central office,
but so far it hasn’t been too dif-
tor of their future success.
ficult because most teachers in
“There is a lot of educational
Michigan realize the benefit of
data that points to a strong
one-on-one tutoring,” Weisberg
predictive ability with third-
said. “There’s been a lot of
grade reading scores and the
research about it. It gives an
likelihood of graduating high
emotional boost as much as it
school,” he said. “We support
helps with skills. Many students
students well before they label
are in home situations where
themselves as non-achievers
they may not be getting a lot of
and emotionally check out of
encouragement to achieve at
school, and that happens as
school.”
young as third or fourth grade.”
TutorMate works almost
exclusively with 6- and 7-year-
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
olds struggling to read. A cor-
Weisberg now lives in Palm
poration or organization signs
Springs, Calif., but knows
up and recruits 10 employees
Detroit well. He grew up at
as volunteers. Each is paired
Congregation Shaarey Zedek
with a student and the two
in Southfield and is the son
share a half-hour on
of Lucille and Harvey
the phone every week,
Weisberg.
each viewing the same
“Both of my parents
page on their respec-
really instilled a lot of
tive computer screens
desire for tikkun olam
while reading stories
to try to repair or mend
and playing games that
the world,” he said.
build fluency, compre-
“They certainly set that
hension, phonics and
example.”
spelling skills.
Weisberg met
Bradley Lutz
“So phenomenal” is
TutorMate’s future
how Robyn Lederman,
founder, Seth
a trademark attorney
Weinberger, when they
at Brooks Kushman in
were brothers at Alpha
Southfield, described
Epsilon Phi, a Jewish
her tutoring experience
fraternity at University
with a Detroit girl in
of Michigan in Ann
the first grade.
Arbor. Weisberg went
“You can tell that
to work for him six
more likely than not,
years ago.
Robyn Lederman
no one is reading with
Bradley Lutz, a
them at home, and you
tax adviser attorney
can really feel a sense of
with Ernst & Young,
excitement and enthusiasm to
joined TutorMate last year
be making progress and to be
though United Way’s Emerging
given the choice of what story
Philanthropists. It was inspir-
they want to read that day,” said ing, he said, to track the prog-
the West Bloomfield resident.
ress his second-grader, Jaylen,
“You can feel how they prog-
made throughout the school
ress — it’s palpable,” added
year.
Lederman, who is also active
“It was amazing. Early on,
in the Michigan Israel Business
he was reading robotically and
Bridge, the Jewish Federation’s
methodically. Then it got to the
Mission Lab and Retooling
point when he was reading so
Detroit, another nonprofit dedi- fast that he was skipping words,
but still getting 95 percent of
them correctly,” Lutz said. “So,
then it was a matter of reining
him back in. He was so enthu-
siastic about increasing his
proficiency.”
Lutz said he was struck by
the challenges Jaylen faced,
particularly how loud and ram-
bunctious his classroom was.
“Going to Bloomfield schools,
the disparity between my
experience and his was pretty
disturbing. Reading about class-
room sizes and budget strug-
gles at Detroit Public Schools,
and then experiencing it on the
other end of the phone, brought
those stories to life,” Lutz said.
“Sometimes after a session, I
would be beaming with joy —
but some weeks there was so
much distraction that it caused
me angst and anger. I don’t
remember ever having a sce-
nario at school where I couldn’t
concentrate on my studies.”
ALL IN
Weisberg oversees TutorMate
in 26 cities around the country,
and nearly 10,000 students are
enrolled in the program, which
is funded through grants and
program fees. The Detroit area,
he said, has been particularly
supportive.
“We have found the commit-
ment and desire from the cor-
porate community to help par-
ticipate in the city’s revitaliza-
tion, which includes early-grade
education, is higher in Detroit
than in the rest of our cities,” he
said. “There is a certain spirit
of Detroit, and that’s more than
just a catchphrase.”
Lutz, who now lives in the
city and attends the Isaac
Agree Downtown Synagogue,
called TutorMate “an absolutely
worthwhile program.”
“Honestly, there were times
when I was more emotional and
stunned with the impact than
I could have imaged,” he said.
“You can donate money to orga-
nizations, but to have a system-
atic and continued relationship
with someone to watch them
grow was incredible.” •
Learn more at innovationsforlearning.
org/tutormate. A video explaining how
the program works can be found at
http://tiny.cc/tutormate.