Federal grant provides funding of services to over 22,000 PA Students

NEW YORK, Feb. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Digital Learning Network announced today that it has partnered with TutaPoint.com to provide live online tutoring to ten school districts in the commonwealth. The service, provided at no cost to school districts or students, is part of a broader pilot program between the district and PaDLN.

Tutoring is offered in math, science, language arts, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese. Students are able to schedule times that meet their needs, even if they require school help late at night or on weekends.

To offer the service, PaDLN has teamed up with New York City-based TutaPoint.com. The company, which utilizes only tutors in the United States, provides live tutoring in its proprietary Web-based online classrooms, which are complete with video, audio, whiteboard and text chat.

"We are extremely excited to work with the educators, students and parents PaDLN is providing services to," said TutaPoint.com co-founder Ryan Duques. "Our staff and tutors are committed to providing an effective tutoring environment and high level of service."

While it is expected that most tutoring sessions will occur between the hours of 2 p.m. and 10 p.m., tutors are available at other times. Information and data from the sessions also will be available for students to share with their teacher and parents to demonstrate progress and map a continuous learning plan for success.

"We provide tutoring with high quality professionals from around Pennsylvania and the United States, including a support staff that includes a student concierge, who is available to students to help schedule sessions, discuss problems and ask advice," said Duques.

Funded by a federal improvement for education grant, the Pennsylvania Digital Learning Network partners with public schools to help them integrate innovation, the arts and digital learning methods that help their students thrive and succeed.

"We are trying to deliver more opportunities to more children more economically. Our partnership with TutaPoint.com allows us to take one more step in that direction," said Dr. Jim Barker, executive director of PaDLN. "This technology will afford our pilot schools the chance to customize educational services that meet the needs of their students and give them tools to move ahead."

As state and local government budgets remain strained, PaDLN offers a unique opportunity to school districts to expand and inexpensively maintain innovative curricula.

"The schools taking advantage of our partnership with Tutapoint.com are demonstrating to parents, policymakers and property taxpayers that, by embracing digital technology, they operate more efficiently, and at the same time give their students more options to succeed," Barker said.

SOURCE TutaPoint.com

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