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Tutor Connection: Building a bridge between teachers and foster care 
On average, it takes a child four to six months to recover academically from a change in schools. Because students in foster care change schools often, they need extra help catching up.
An innovative program at California State University, San Marcos is successfully providing that extra help. It’s called Tutor Connection.
The premise of Tutor Connection is simple. The teacher training program at Cal State San Marcos provides tutors for foster children. The future teachers earn credit. The youth in foster care get private tutoring.
The results—on both sides of the desk—are surprising and inspiring.
Finding and filling the gaps
“It’s too early to make specific claims, but the results we’re getting anecdotally are very exciting,” says Dr. John Halcòn.
He’s the San Marcos education professor who began co-teaching—with social workers in the San Diego field office of Casey Family Programs—special sections of Education 364: “Cultural Diversity and Schooling.” The focus is on youth in foster care as an at-risk population with unique educational needs.
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Feedback from tutors |
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“This experience has helped me realize what kind of teacher I need to be to help foster youth and all children.”
“My student was my best teacher this semester.”
“To improve this program you should have it at every university, for every future teacher and for every foster youth.”
“Working one-on-one with a foster child is extremely valuable and educational for potential teachers.”
“I would recommend this program to anyone entering the teaching profession.”
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“Our students impact these children right from the start,” Dr. Halcòn reports. “In areas of reading, spelling, and basic math, they grow two grade levels in 20 hours of tutoring instruction.”
What accounts for their rapid leaps?
“I’ve worked with at-risk kids for a long time, and it never ceases to surprise me how smart they are,” Dr. Halcòn says.
The disruptions of life in foster care play a big role in their academic struggles. “They’re not intellectually incapable—they just have gaps in learning. With one-on-one guidance, they fill in a lot of gaps quickly.”
It’s often the simple things, like how to spell or do basic math. “When they find the missing link,” Dr. Halcòn says, “they’re able to take off fast.”
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