CBT’s tutoring programs predominately use high-school students as tutors and grade-school students as learners. The program can be broken into four components: recruitment, orientation, academic tutoring, and the community focused project. All tutoring sessions are presided over by site coordinators who are either CBT young professionals or college students with experience and a planned future in education. The programs meet on a weekly basis for 75 minutes with the first 40 minutes dedicated to academic tutoring and the remainder dedicated to our community focused project or educational games.

Recruitment

CBT recruits high-school students by making on-site visits to the schools during lunch period or other predetermined times. Students are given information about the organization and the tutoring program. Interested students are required to complete a two page application which emphasizes committing to attending all twelve weeks of the program.

Orientation

All tutors are required to attend a 1.5 hours orientation that takes place the week preceding the start of the program. During the orientation the tutors are instructed on tutoring basics, the program long community project, standards of conduct, attendance expectations, and given their tutoring binder. Each tutor is given a binder at the start of the program that contains information they will use throughout the 12 week program including a journal they are required to complete after every tutoring session.

Academic Tutoring

The first 40 minutes of every tutoring session is focused on the academic needs of the young learner. This is typically defined by the homework they are working on but can be altered by the desire of the parents. Young learners are expected to bring their school books with them to assist the tutoring process but educational supplements are available for use. The site coordinators match up the tutors and young learners following week one based on academic strengths and personalities. Care is taken in maintaining the tutor-young learner pair for the duration of the program to allow a trusting genuine relationship to develop.

Community Focused Project

Following the academic tutoring the tutor and young learner pair switch their focus to the program long community project. Depending on the project and the week of the program different worksheets are distributed to the tutor and young learner pair by the site coordinator. The project builds on work completed in previous weeks and all worksheets are kept in the tutor’s binder for reference. The projects concludes in the last week of the program with a finished product that varies based on the project but can be displayed and enjoyed by family and friends.