Rider Receives State Funding to Expand Tutoring Options For Students
As a result of a U.S. Department of Labor-funded grant for $106,000, Rider University will offer tutoring services by experienced adult professionals who are students in its Graduate Level Teacher Preparation (GLTP) Program. During the one-year grant period, which started May 1, 2009, 12 GLTP students will act as professional tutors in math and sciences for Rider’s undergraduate students.
The GLTP Program is a nationally accredited certification program at Rider that has enabled former chemists, graphic artists and business partners, as well as recent undergraduates, to pursue their dreams as educators. Candidates take intensive courses, and gain early field experiences before they begin student teaching under the guidance of mentors.
Currently, the University offers peer tutoring where undergraduate students tutor other undergraduate students in all subject areas. The new tutoring services will connect undergraduate students with individuals who have professional experience in fields such as accounting, biology and chemistry.
Dr. Don Ambrose, interim associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Education, & Sciences, said the additional tutoring services will also provide another outlet for GLTP students to gain valuable experience in education.
“The grant not only supports our GLTP students, but also our undergraduate students,” said Ambrose, who is also a professor of Graduate Education at Rider.
Kendall Friedman, director of Rider’s Student Success Center, said tutors mentor students in groups and participate in training certified by the College Reading and Learning Association. During the training, tutors acquire knowledge about the University’s mission and philosophy, as well as learning outcomes and group dynamics.
The University anticipates that the selected GLTP students will begin training and tutoring as early as this summer. The tutors will receive $8,000 stipends, which they can use to offset their tuition costs, while undergraduate students will receive invaluable skills, knowledge and guidance from working professionals.
“The idea is that these future teachers will have the opportunity to sit down and better understand what is going on in the students’ minds,” explained Dr. Jonathan Yavelow, assistant dean for Science at Rider. “They will be exposed to different ways of teaching. While tutoring, they will be able to see how it feels to ignite a spark.”
Along with New Jersey City University faculty and instructional staff from the Liberty Science Center, Rider University faculty will provide expertise in the development and delivery of up to ten workshops for students in both the GLTP and New Pathways Alternate Route programs. The purpose of these workshops is to better instruct alternate route and future teachers in math and science in the inquiry-based teaching methods.
The $106,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Labor’s BIO-1 WIRED (Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development) program has been awarded to Rider University through its partnership with Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, N.J., to strengthen math and science teaching.
The Graduate Level Teacher Preparation Program at Rider University offers a wide range of certification programs including Early Childhood, Business Education, Mathematics Education, Social Studies Education, Elementary Education, English Education, Science Education, and World Language Education. Courses focus on psychological and sociocontextual foundations for teaching and learning; psychological and interdisciplinary perspectives on human development; literacy; curriculum and instruction; and subject-specific instructional methods.
