Partners for Success
Duke University's Program in Education offers a variety of service-learning opportunities through coursework and Project Child, an extended orientation program. Students in service-learning education courses participate in Partners for Success, a structured, service-learning tutoring program. Duke students tutor fourth and fifth graders in schools in the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership.
What is service-learning?
Service-learning "is a form of experiential education in which students engage in activities that address human and community needs together with structured opportunities intentionally designed to promote student learning and development. Reflection and reciprocity are key concepts of service-learning" (Jacoby, Service-Learning in Higher Education: Concepts and Practices, 1996, p.5).
What is Partners For Success?
Partners for Success (PFS) was created in the Fall of 1998 in response to the need for an organized tutoring program that would support Durham Public School elementary students within the Duke Durham Neighborhood Partnership. A needs assessment with principals and teachers from the partnership schools revealed that Duke tutors would provide a valuable service if they could help children develop positive attitudes towards learning, raise their scores on North Carolina's End-of-Grade tests, and help the schools meet state-mandated achievement goals.
Since PFS's inception in the Fall of 1998, over 907 Duke students have provided reading and math tutoring to more than 491 children at four Neighborhood Partnership elementary schools. Many of the children have received tutoring services for two full school years (fourth and fifth grades).
PFS is dedicated to providing high quality tutoring that will have a positive impact on students' academic development. PFS meets this goal by providing on-going tutor training, professionally designed tutoring lessons, internet accessible learning activities and tutorial materials, and interactive reflection activities.
PFS has an ongoing commitment to providing Duke undergraduates with a meaningful service- learning experience. The tutors benefit from this model when theories discussed in Duke courses are put into practice during their time spent at the schools. PFS provides Duke students with a structured opportunity to become a part of the Durham community in a way that is mutually beneficial. PFS is continually modified and improved with the help of principals, teachers, and tutor reflection, as well as student data, in hope that it will serve as a model for other Neighborhood Partnership tutoring programs.