A common complaint from parents nowadays is that they can no longer help their kids with homework, especially once students have reached the upper elementary grades and beyond. Technology, curriculum expectations, methods and standards have oftentimes surpassed parents’ own knowledge and “how we used to do it,” is no longer how it’s done.

Tutoring services can range anywhere from $15 to $50 an hour, depending on the subject matter and the tutor, often making extra help cost-prohibitive. After school schedules are tight. What’s a parent to do? Even more importantly, what are students to do when they’re stumped?

Enter Tutor.com, a free service that is available to all Cranston Public Schools students, thanks to a strong community partnership between the school department and the Cranston Public Libraries.

“Tutor.com was offered at no cost through the AskRI.org resources, which are provided through a grant to the State Office of Library Information Services,” said Susan Rose, library program supervisor for Cranston Public Schools. “Unfortunately, the grant was cut in 2016 and the State OLIS decided to discontinue the service. This left a huge gap in the resources that the library system was able to provide to our constituency. Ed Garcia, the Director of the Cranston Public Libraries approached Superintendent Jeannine Nota-Masse with a proposal that the public library and the public school system split the cost of the service.”

Garcia was pleased that the school department was eager to partner in this initiative.

“Last year, we almost lost Tutor.com,” he said. “But, we were able to partner with Cranston Public Schools to keep it up and running. Now a year later, our collaborative effort continues to result in free tutoring and homework assistance for any student with a CPL library card.”

According to Park View Middle School librarian, Stephanie Mills, the school department has been going above and beyond to promote the service to their students.

“Last year Emily Brown, Youth Services Coordinator for CPL helped to make a YouTube presentation video to use with our students,” said Mills. “That’s what I’ve been using at PVMS. I’ve trained every team so that all 650 of our kids know how to use this service. There is also a K-12 flier available for all parents so that they can see what is available for the students as well.”

In addition to the presentation, Brown and Garcia came up with the Fresh Start Library Card drive, which ran from September 1 through October 1, 2017 and sought to put a library card into the hands of every CPS student, as the card is the way that students can now access Tutor.com for free.

“My favorite feature is the essay drop-off feature which allows students to submit an essay and within 24 hours they have received a response from a teacher with suggested edits,” said Mills. “You can also drop off math work, tell the tutor how you solved the problem and that you’re not sure what you’re doing wrong, and they will email you back with help.”

Mills also likes the fact that the program is 100 percent safe, and is anonymous. Students are not identified to the tutor they are working with and if any identifying information is given out, the session is ended immediately.

Tutor.com offers academic tutoring, help with homework, test preparation, skills and concepts they are learning in class as well as well as AP test preparation and college entrance exam preparation. Subjects include math, science, English, Spanish, social studies, ACT/SAT, GED/HiSET, Microsoft Office and writing.

The program is bilingual, offering extra help in Spanish as well as English.

It also includes practice quizzes for students who are preparing for end-of chapter tests, final exams or standardized tests in over 100 areas in math, science, and social studies. There are also instructional videos, test-taking tips, downloadable practice worksheets and flashcards that are customizable.

Superintendent Nota-Masse is excited about the success of the community partnership with the Cranston Public Libraries.

“Any chance we have to support our students, especially when it combines community agencies, is welcome and celebrate,” she said.

Feedback from teachers has been positive as well.

“What I like most about Tutor.com is that the help sessions are personalized to the students’ specific questions and needs. There are plenty of videos available online to teach concepts to students, but Tutor.com works with the student to fill in the gaps or to answer questions the student has about a certain piece of the lesson that was presented in school,” said Theresa Sullivan, math teacher at Cranston High School East. “Tutor.com is interactive, so if a student has a question, the tutor can address it before moving on. They will also answer homework questions so that the student is receiving extra help that is pertinent to their lesson and they’re completing the homework at the same time. I recommend it to my students and even tell the parents about it at open house.”

Parents are pleased to have the extra support at home, which allows their students to receive the help they need in the off-hours.

“My son found it very useful because feedback was immediate,” said Lauren Maker, ELL teacher at Cranston East, and parent of a CPS student. “He also liked that aspect that he could print out a transcript of his Tutor.com session, which he could show to his teacher as proof of his session. As support in math and science it was a godsend.”

Students have the opportunity to provide feedback to the program in the form of anonymous comments and many who have used the program have responded favorably. Additionally, data is tracked as to the amount of logins that are taking place, and numbers have surged since the start of the partnership, especially at the secondary level.

Several students raved about the service after their recent Tutor.com sessions.

“The teacher I worked with was a complete help. I thought I was going to fail a test I had yesterday, but she helped me so much! Five stars,” one student said.

“The tutor that helped me to revise my research paper was really good. They helped me at a steady and understanding pace. I am very happy and appreciative that we get to have this program,” said another.

For more information about the Tutor.com opportunities for CPS students, watch Brown’s video at youtube/VcTOk1y9rS0 or visit the Cranston Public Schools website at www.cpsed.net and click on Tutor.com on the opening page.