Briarcliff Tutor Partnership Expands, Answers Biden's Call To Action

BRIARCLIFF MANOR, NY — Seeking to help local students recover from the coronavirus pandemic, three Briarcliff High School students have expanded their volunteer tutoring program, Briarcliff Tutor Partnership.

The program was started to match volunteer tutors from Briarcliff High School to students from Briarcliff Middle School and Todd Elementary in need of tutoring.

This year, Jason Starr, Joseph Berger and Gordon Beckler created a nonprofit and expanded to 19 school districts, with hundreds of tutors and tutees registered for the summer session.

On Wednesday, they hosted an orientation session in Law Park for tutors, tutees, and their parents to kick off summer tutoring. They have more than 100 participants.

Starr was a tutor for a while in 10th grade volunteering for a non-profit, helping a second-grader who, like many, had struggled with remote learning.

"My time as a tutor brought my attention to Briarcliff where a tutoring program could be really helpful for recovering from COVID-19 but was something we didn't have yet," he told Patch. "At the time, there was a dormant tutoring club, so I worked together with Joseph Berger and Ms. Safer to bring it to life again."

They had 71 participants last year.

"Our program helps our tutees learn material they missed in school and gives our tutors a great opportunity to serve their community and gain leadership skills!" he said.

Educators and administrators in the district endorsed the program. The library and the PTA are also helping them spread the word to families.

One of the biggest challenges Starr noticed while tutoring, before the program was officially underway, was a lack of parent trust for the tutors.

"So when we started BTP, I wanted to make sure tutors and parents connected with each other well," he said. "We hosted an orientation in the early summer to inform our participants and allowed them a 30 minute breakout session to meet-and-greet. As all our parents and tutors are from Briarcliff and our orientation allowed them to meet each other, our program spread a sense of community and connection to everyone that participated."

For 2022, they wanted to spread the same learning and connection to other school districts, so they reached out to many high schools by email. Now the program is being established in 19 school districts so far, with each chapter being led by a student from that school district.

Now Tutor Partnerships has aligned itself with President Joe Biden's call for action and the National Partnership for Student Success, Starr said.

"Aligning with NPSS helps us get support from their organization such as resources for curriculum development and leadership training for our tutors," he said. "We routinely give awards 'Briarcliff Tutor of the Year' and 'Excellence in Learning' (for tutees) at the end of the session. Aligning with NPSS could allow us for some funding for award prizes."