This September, Wake County Public Libraries (WCPL) launched free online tutoring services through Tutor.com for anyone with a free library card. This opportunity, in addition to those provided through honor societies around Wakefield, provides chances for students to get help in school at no cost to themselves.
Oftentimes, tutoring is not easily accessible — either students do not have time to organize in-person meetings, or they don’t have the money to pay for a personal tutor. Tutor.com is a learning platform in which all ages of learners can gain access to a multitude of resources for more than 200 different subjects, from reading help for kindergarteners to resume writing help for adults. Additionally, since Tutor.com is run by the same company as The Princeton Review, users can get access to a variety of test-prep courses for the ACT, SAT, MCAT, NCLEX and more.
By default, Tutor.com offers live text chatting with tutors, but users can also opt to have audio chatting. All tutoring sessions are recorded, so learners can go back and review what they learned to be better prepared for whatever they may need help with. David Wills, the Senior Director of Library Partnerships for Tutor.com, emphasizes the effectiveness of the platform.
“It is important because it helps break down the barriers,” Wills said. “Sometimes when students are in a classroom, there can be a hesitation to ask for help. For patrons in general, [having the online resources] helps to create more of an easier flow to get help and get access to it.”
For Wake County residents, getting this access is completely free. Theresa Theall is the Senior Library Manager for Collection Development Services for WCPL and has worked there for nearly 25 years. In this role, she has held a variety of positions, including overseeing the circulation of books and managing library staff across the county. A part of what inspired Theall to partner with Tutor.com was the evident lack of easily accessible, highly-rated tutoring options in Wake County.
“[Tutor.com] is a game changer,” Theall said. “Prior to this, it really did depend on a family’s individual resources or other types of uncontrollable factors to determine whether or not a student could get good quality tutoring.”
Similarly, there are multiple tutoring programs available for students at Wakefield High School and Wakefield Middle School. For example, the Mu Alpha Theta National Math Honor Society has a central focus on tutoring, requiring at least five hours of it each school year for all the members. The Co-Vice President of Mu Alpha Theta, senior Wyatt Wert, is in charge of organizing the tutoring at Wakefield Middle School. While Mu Alpha Theta only recently started offering middle school tutoring as an option, Wert finds it extremely meaningful and important to extend this opportunity to students of multiple age groups.
“I’ve tutored a lot of kids in middle school and high school,” Wert said. “Everyone that comes in, even if they don’t need the help or want to just sit down with someone that knows what they’re talking about, it’s just a great way to either get work done or get help on a certain subject.”
Another senior, Leila Kipnes, is also a member of Mu Alpha Theta. In addition, she works at Mathnasium — an organization dedicated to tutoring kids from kindergarten to 12th grade in math. As someone who is involved in multiple forms of tutoring, she finds the online aspect of WCPL’s tutoring initiative to be particularly beneficial. While live text or audio chatting on Tutor.com is only available between the hours of 10 a.m. and 10 p.m., users can access a vast array of materials on the website 24/7.
“It adds a lot more access for people who either can’t afford private tutoring because it’s very expensive or can’t drive 30 or 40 minutes to a location whenever they’re needing help with math,” Kipnes said. “That way, if they suddenly have a test they’re not prepared for, they can just go online and get tutoring without a lot of stress or struggle.”
Going forward, Tutor.com hopes to extend this opportunity to more and more people by reaching out to Wake County Public Schools and conducting training sessions for teachers, students, parents and library staff.
“Our goal moving forward is to make sure that we’re getting the word out there to everyone within Wake County,” Wills said. “Our goal since we just recently launched within the county is to help build usage.”
