To read more about It’s All About Kids, visit www.iaak.net.
BY COLIN M. STEWART
STEPHENS MEDIA
cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com
HILO — When it comes to tutoring students, just convincing them to sign up is half the battle, educators say.
But one private, Oahu-based tutoring and educational technology provider thinks it has the answer: good, old-fashioned bribery.
“Historically, we haven’t had much luck in getting older kids to take part in the free tutoring,” said Maurice Messina, the Big Island’s district manager for It’s All About Kids. “So this year, we tried to come up with an incentive.”
A provider of free-of-charge, Internet-based supplemental tutoring funded through the No Child Left Behind Act, It’s All About Kids decided this year to give away 300 refurbished laptop computers to some of the first Big Isle students who complete at least 12 hours of supervised after-school tutoring.
“By letting all these kids know there is something free to them, we hope that we’ll have more signing up,” Messina said.
Each year, the company has a surplus of computers used for its programs that it would just end up getting rid of, Messina said. So program administrators decided they could be used to serve the dual purpose of giving kids an incentive, while also providing them with a way to continue their studies from home after finishing with the classroom tutoring. The students are provided their own customized learning programs available online that provide tutoring and testing to ensure they’ve grasped the material.
On Thursday afternoon, Messina joined a class of nine students participating in the after-school tutoring at Waiakea High School to hand out five of the laptops to qualifying students. At Waiakea, the first 10 students to complete the 12-hour program were eligible, but each school is different, he said, depending on the number of kids enrolled. Their parents must attend when they are given the computers, and the students must promise to continue their studies over the Internet from home.
“Now, you’re getting this because you’re going to continue the tutoring at home, right? It’s a tool,” Messina told one teenager as she signed the paperwork. Both she and her mother nodded their heads in agreement.
After receiving his computer, 17-year-old junior Cody Beeler said he was excited to bring it home and continue his work brushing up on Algebra II.
“I had some trouble with math, but now I feel like I’m doing pretty good,” he said. “Earlier in the year, I wasn’t doing well and my teacher, Mrs. Chow, saw I needed help.”
Beeler’s mother, Tinamarie Bumbulis, said the laptop was a great incentive. “He wasn’t keen on coming to do it, at first. But it gave him the motivation to keep coming, and he’s been making progress,” she said.
Senior Lindsey Magnani, 17, said owning a computer wasn’t a novel experience for her, but this time it was something special.
“Yeah, she earned this one,” said her smiling father, Stephen Magnani.
Fractions in Algebra II were a hurdle for Magnani, but they’re an obstacle she intends to overcome, as she’ll need a strong handle on them for her future plans.
“I’m planning on becoming a veterinarian,” she said.
So far, said Waiakea educational assistant Maria Liwai, the laptops have been very successful in boosting student interest in tutoring.
“Last year, we were here and we were ready, but no one signed up,” she said. “This year, we had nine kids show up. And if we can get the word out, we think even more will come in.”
According to Messina, once kids complete at least 12 hours of the tutoring, their testing scores have been shown to improve by between 8 and 10 percent. And if they continue taking the online tutoring, their scores climb from there. So far, the program has seen an average increase of 10 percent for its East Hawaii participants. In December alone, Waiakea’s nine students improved their testing scores by an average of 9.71 percent.
“We get them to put in three hours a week. We know they can stick with it, if they just get in the groove,” Messina said.
The company still has plenty of computers left to give away, he added, and he encouraged students and their parents to look into signing up for the tutoring.
Freshman Brieann Astrande, 14, agreed that other kids would benefit from the program, saying that the experience had been very helpful for her.
“I just had the free time and I wanted to improve my grades,” she said. “I’ve seen my studying skills improving, and my grades in my science class have gone from bad grades to good grades.”
For more on the Hawaii school system’s Supplemental Educational Services, parents may ask their school for more information or an application for the SES Tutoring Program, or visit https://doe.k12.hi.us/nclb/vendors/index.htm.
To read more about It’s All About Kids, visit www.iaak.net.