Great Oaks Foundation Teams with Crossroads of Learning to Launch the Tutor Corps Academy, a Learning Community that Works
NEW YORK, April 18, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Great Oaks Foundation and Crossroads of Learning announce the debut of Great Oaks' Tutor Corps Academy, a custom-branded, private and secure learning community of practice designed to increase student success, staff retention and mission alignment across its network of charter schools. Over 200 tutors are expected to participate in the Tutor Corps Academy throughout the 2016-2017 school year.
The Tutor Corps Academy is the first installation of Crossroads of Learning's Learning Support Academy (LSAcademy), an online campus that delivers courses, content and community to trainers, tutors, and academic coaches. Participants in the Academy will engage in custom staff-facilitated courses as well as face-to-face training and mentoring. The Academy will provide a theoretical and practical foundation in tutoring principles and techniques, augmented with advanced communication skills and a continuous exploration of students' learning needs and how best to meet them. By participating in the Tutor Corps Academy, tutors and their trainers will have an opportunity for expanded personal growth, collaboration and professional development in academic support practices. Applications for the 2016-2017 Great Oaks Tutor Corps are now being accepted and will form the inaugural Academy cohort.
The Great Oaks Tutor Corps launched in 2011, funded by the federal AmeriCorps program. Each year a cohort of recent college graduates complete a year of service as full-time tutors. The Tutor Corps Academy represents the next phase in the program's development, as the Great Oaks Foundation continues to improve student outcomes. Tutors in the Academy will benefit from peer-to-peer sharing and support, a resource library and continuous improvement coaching cycles. Collaborative engagement is supported by mobile apps, progress indicators, document and knowledge sharing, and recognition through certificates and digital badging.
According to Christopher Pellegrino, the Great Oaks Foundation's National Tutor Corps Director, "The partnership with Crossroads of Learning will help us maximize the impact of our tutoring program which means we can provide even better educational opportunities to our students." Great Oaks staff will complete Crossroads' Train-the-Trainer program, qualifying them to facilitate curriculum from the Crossroads catalog and adapt current Great Oaks classroom training components for hybrid delivery within the Tutor Corps Academy environment.
"The Crossroads team is proud to provide courses, content and community in support of Great Oaks' best-in-class commitment to tutoring," said Bob Lasiewicz, Crossroads of Learning's Managing Director. "This Learning Support Academy installation builds on our time-tested practices enhanced with the latest innovations in blended learning, multi-media, social engagement, and collaboration tools to achieve great results." The LSAcademy utilizes Canvas LMS by Instructure, a top choice among higher education learning management systems, customized with proprietary courses, tools, templates and third-party software integrations. The LSAcademy is available to educational organizations worldwide, including schools, colleges and university districts/networks and other medium-to-large tutoring organizations.
For more information, contact:
Jean Lombardi, Director of External Affairs, Great Oaks Foundation, (917) 543-2182 or
Nalini Lasiewicz, Registrar, Crossroads of Learning, (818) 249-9691.
References:
To apply for the Great Oaks Tutor Corps, www.greatoakscharter.org/careers/tutor-corps
To learn more about the LSAcademy, http://www.crossroadsoflearning.com/academy.php
About Us
The Great Oaks Foundation is a charter management organization that supports schools located in Newark, NJ; New York, NY; Bridgeport, CT, and Wilmington, DE. Each campus hosts a Tutor Corps, a group of bright college graduates from across the country who dedicate a year of service to urban students. During this one-year commitment, tutors work full-time providing one-on-one and small group instruction to each Great Oaks Charter School student. http://greatoakscharter.org/
Crossroads of Learning provides courses, content and community for learning support professionals involved in tutoring, coaching and counseling, whether within organizations or in private practice. The curriculum is delivered in both online and workbook formats by expert trainers, with continuing education credits (CEUs) provided by Fielding Graduate University. http://www.crossroadsoflearning.com
SOURCE Great Oaks Foundation
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