• Columnists
• Bulletin Board
• Savvy Shopper
• Education
• Food
• Gardening
• Health
• Home & Garden
• Personal Finance
• Personal Tech
• Teen Life
• Weddings
email this
print this
reprint or license thisM O R E N E W S F R O M  |
| Libraries |
| Education Etc. |
| Discuss Education Etc. |
Library offering online tutoring
Homework assistance done by N.Y. provider
BY TIM NELSON
Pioneer Press
Homework help for St. Paul school kids is just a click away as of Thursday.
The St. Paul Public Library system launched live, online tutoring services at its five library-based homework centers and on the Internet for anyone who has a library card and access to a computer.
"There's all kinds of things that put up barriers to keep kids from succeeding," Mayor Chris Coleman said at a news conference at the Dayton's Bluff branch library. "Today, we're taking down one of those."
The service provides instant messaging and interactive links through Tutor.com, a New York-based provider of online tutoring services. It screens, hires and trains teachers, college students and professors to provide online homework assistance.
The service is the latest development in extracurricular educational efforts by the city. Former Mayor Randy Kelly launched a school volunteer drive and brought in federally funded VISTA volunteers to help the St. Paul school district.
Coleman also has launched a "second-shift" initiative to help provide after-school activities, supervision and academic assistance to the city's kids outside traditional classrooms, likely in city recreation centers. The city on Thursday also announced formation of a commission to oversee the effort and posted an opening for a project coordinator.
The library effort is an outgrowth of a homework center initiative suggested by a retired University of Minnesota drama and English professor at the Lexington Outreach branch of the St. Paul Public Library.
"We got volunteers from Central High School, volunteers from St. Thomas, volunteer seniors," said Celeste Raspanti. It has since grown to five centers in libraries across the city.
The nonprofit Friends of the St. Paul Public Library recently stepped in to raise nearly $40,000 in corporate and foundation contributions to fund access to online tutoring through Tutor.com over the next year, according to Peter Pearson, president of the St. Paul-based library organization.
An Internet interface lets students find subject- and grade-level-appropriate help from 3 to 10 p.m. every day. Spanish-language assistance is available from 3 to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday.
David Ziembiec, a Tutor.com company representative at the kickoff, said the service provides several hundred online tutoring sessions a day from California to Florida, linking students with home-based tutors over the Internet. The company runs criminal and academic checks on its tutors, he said, and archives each session to monitor quality and assure appropriate contacts between students and tutors.
Students can access the online help at any library or on the Internet by clicking on the "Live Homework Help" link at www.sppl.org/homework.
They only need a 14-digit number, listed on the back of any city library card, to access the system. Wilson Bradshaw, chairman of the Friends of the Library board and president of Metropolitan State University, said Ramsey County library cardholders also can access the system if they register their card number at any St. Paul public library.
Tim Nelson can be reached at tnelson@pioneerpress.com or 651-292-1159.
