Scotch Plains-Fanwood Student Offers Free Tutoring To Help Others

SCOTCH PLAINS, NJ — Francesca Carlino, a senior at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School, is lending a helping hand to district elementary students by offering math tutoring lessons.

Carlino formed a club at the high school called T.E.A.M.S. (Tutoring Early Age Math Students) the summer before her sophomore year. She started tutoring a few students and found through some research that students who struggled with academics and with financial needs were left at a disadvantage when they couldn’t afford a tutor.

“It has been well documented that without an intervention, elementary school children who perform poorly in mathematics will perform poorly in both mathematics and language arts in the upper grades,” Carlino said. “The typical intervention is a private tutor. Children from families that cannot afford a tutor are clearly at a disadvantage. The ramifications include decreased access to higher education and good jobs.”

To rectify this, Carlino worked with Dorothy Lusk, an elementary school teacher at McGinn School who has been her mentor, and Michelle Giordano, a mathematics teacher and advisor of the T.E.A.M.S. club to help her help others.

The group has since grown to include bout 12 high school students that are each paired with one or two elementary students at McGinn School to help tutor them in math.

Since financial records are private, teachers at the school can direct those students in need to the club for help.

“I’ve always been interested in helping and tutoring,” Carlino said. “I wanted to reach out to students, to children, who don’t have the means to have that private tutoring. There is a good portion who can afford a private tutor, but there is a small group of students that maybe their parents are working two jobs or they don’t have the time to sit with them for homework. I thought those kids need help the most.”

Carlino is looking to expand her program to other elementary schools in the Scotch Plains-Fanwood school district.

Any parent in the district with an elementary school student is encouraged to reach out to Carlino to find out how they can get involved in the free tutoring program. To contact Carlino and the T.E.A.M.S. email spfhsmathtutors@gmail.com.

(Image via Francesca Carlino)

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