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Introduction
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Set up a team
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Find tutors
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Find tutees
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Implement
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This Getting Started Guide is designed for student change-makers seeking to start a peer tutoring program at their school. In addition to reviewing this guide and our peer tutor program tool box, students looking to start a peer tutoring program should contact us for free advice and help on how to start a peer tutoring program.
When trying to start a peer-tutoring program at a school, there are several important things to consider:
When trying to start a peer-tutoring program at a school, there are several important things to consider:
- Develop a basic plan on how the program will work and how it can be organized.
- Meet with the administration of your school including your principal, director, school counselors, etc. They can help you begin to institute your plans.
- Find a faculty advisor that is willing to supervise and/or assist with the creation of the program.
- Gather a group of passionate students and/or friends who would like to participate as tutors for the program.
- Reach out to the student body for any more interested students who would like service or leadership opportunities as tutors.
- Draft a website and/or public access domain where information can be stored.
- Start reaching out for any students who might be interested as tutees.
- Use email, flyers, social media postings- everything you can do to advocate for the program.
- Have an area available where students are able to submit requests for tutoring (either online or near the front office, easily accessible)
- Pair students with tutors that tutor in that specific subject and are available for the times that the student is.
- Allow tutors to communicate and organize sessions with their tutees independently, and serve as a source of guidance to further community leadership and instill a sense of accountability.
- Follow up with students and tutors and make sure things are running smoothly.
- When the program starts to grow, look for potential candidates for leadership positions.
- Create prizes and certificates for tutors that participate in the program (Tutor of the Month, Most Subjects Tutored, Most Sessions, Best Feedback, etc); create t-shirts, host celebratory holiday or end of year thank-you banquets/ appreciation evenings to instill a sense of community and show the gratitude the school has for the tutors.
- Do not forget to join the National Association of Peer Tutoring Programs for added (and free) benefits to your program.
Set up a team.
Congratulations on choosing to introduce peer tutoring to your school! The first step for implementing the program is to set up a team of directors. Below is an overview of the various positions for the ideal team, as well as duties of each leadership role:
Congratulations on choosing to introduce peer tutoring to your school! The first step for implementing the program is to set up a team of directors. Below is an overview of the various positions for the ideal team, as well as duties of each leadership role:
- 1-2 adult administrators:
- This can be a school counselor, vice principal, or both! By including an adult staff member in the leadership team, your school can make sure that admin is involved and aware of the program. As educators, the adult on your team will be able to provide valuable feedback and oversee the program. We recommend that this adult be at all team meetings, which would ideally take place once a month. When you ask a faculty member to be in charge of the team, make sure you let them know what the time commitment would be.
- 3-5 students:
- Find students who are passionate leaders dedicated to the cause. These students will be in charge of handling questions/ emails from parents. They will also be in charge of marketing; creating flyers, posting related links on the school website, and more. The students’ roles on the team will also include matching tutors to tutees and organizing team meetings with the adult(s) to maintain the peer tutoring program.
Find student tutors.
These tutors will offer academic support to their peers for free, so you’ll want to find motivated students who have a genuine interest in helping others. You may want to pitch peer tutoring as a way to earn service points and as a great extracurricular. A great way to catch the attention of potential tutors is with flyers for a lunch meeting (flyer provided below). Post the flyers around school, and host the lunch meeting about a week later. You may even consider offering free pizza at this meeting, which can take place in a classroom or career center if your school has one. At the meeting, deliver a presentation on why these students should become peer tutors. Explain the benefits of tutoring others and have a way for any interested peer tutors to sign up with an online form.
These tutors will offer academic support to their peers for free, so you’ll want to find motivated students who have a genuine interest in helping others. You may want to pitch peer tutoring as a way to earn service points and as a great extracurricular. A great way to catch the attention of potential tutors is with flyers for a lunch meeting (flyer provided below). Post the flyers around school, and host the lunch meeting about a week later. You may even consider offering free pizza at this meeting, which can take place in a classroom or career center if your school has one. At the meeting, deliver a presentation on why these students should become peer tutors. Explain the benefits of tutoring others and have a way for any interested peer tutors to sign up with an online form.
Find tutees.
You’ve found tutors- now it’s time to reach out to anyone who needs academic support. Offer an online sign-up link for struggling students who would like to make use of free tutoring by their very own peers. The link to the sign-up form should be provided on the school website, at club fairs, on flyers around school, and can even be sent through a school-wide email to all students and educators. Reach out to teachers, and ask them to recommend peer tutoring to any students in their classes who may be struggling. Emphasize that peer tutoring is a great solution as it is free, involves one-on-one academic support by another student, and can help tremendously in improving classroom success.
You’ve found tutors- now it’s time to reach out to anyone who needs academic support. Offer an online sign-up link for struggling students who would like to make use of free tutoring by their very own peers. The link to the sign-up form should be provided on the school website, at club fairs, on flyers around school, and can even be sent through a school-wide email to all students and educators. Reach out to teachers, and ask them to recommend peer tutoring to any students in their classes who may be struggling. Emphasize that peer tutoring is a great solution as it is free, involves one-on-one academic support by another student, and can help tremendously in improving classroom success.
Implement the program.
This is the last step! At this point, you have an excellent team to run the program, motivated tutors, and eager tutees. The team should now handle the process of matching tutors to tutees. Make sure the tutor is comfortable teaching the desired subject, and that both parties can agree on a schedule of availability. Allow them to decide their own tutoring schedule/ meeting place, but encourage the peer tutoring to take place during/near school hours; lunch, break, or after school in the library work great.
When a new tutee signs up, look at your list of tutors and their subjects of expertise. Find a tutor who can help the new tutee with the specified subject. Once you have identified a tutor for the person, email the tutee with the tutor’s contact info.
This is the last step! At this point, you have an excellent team to run the program, motivated tutors, and eager tutees. The team should now handle the process of matching tutors to tutees. Make sure the tutor is comfortable teaching the desired subject, and that both parties can agree on a schedule of availability. Allow them to decide their own tutoring schedule/ meeting place, but encourage the peer tutoring to take place during/near school hours; lunch, break, or after school in the library work great.
When a new tutee signs up, look at your list of tutors and their subjects of expertise. Find a tutor who can help the new tutee with the specified subject. Once you have identified a tutor for the person, email the tutee with the tutor’s contact info.
