Synergy’s Homework Helpers put on hold

Despite a successful pilot program, Synergy’s Homework Helpers program won’t be continuing in 2017 due to a reduction in funding for Synergy.
“We really want [Homework Helpers] but we need investment,” said Synergy Youth Program Facilitator Terry Gill.
“We’ve seen a clear need for it,” he said.
The program costs less than $4,000 to run in the current form however the pilot has shown there is room for growth of the program.
Gill has a background working as a tutor before he joined Synergy and was running the Homework Helper program.
Homework Helpers was started as a pilot program to fulfill a need that Gill and Synergy had identified in Chestermere.
The program ran once a month and started out providing what Gill called shadow education and transitioned to more of a learning centre approach.
“You help the student get through the test but have them solve things on their own and develop a more positive attitude towards education,” he said.
Gill would have his students explain the concepts and lessons to him as a way for them to learn and build confidence.
They also emphasized learning fundamentals in their tutoring.
“It’s like if you try and balance on one foot, you need two feet balance,” said Gill.
Within the program, Gill found math to be the subject that everyone needed help with.
“Everyone came for at least math help,” he said.
The goal of the program is to increase student’s academic self-confidence helping them be successful in their education instead of just help them pass individual tests as they come up.
“Our ultimate goal is that you don’t…need tutoring, you can do everything on your own,” he said.
The one-on-one format of Homework Helpers allowed the tutors to work with a student’s learning style.
The tutors would work with the students to create a strategy for them to be successful, which included getting the students to spend time each day practicing in areas of difficulty.
“It’s like treating them like they’re an athlete,” said Gill.
“If you’re training for a marathon you train a little bit every day you don’t just cram the night before,” he said.
As confidence grows in one subject, the effects of that confidence can be seen spilling over into other subjects and areas in the student’s life.
“If they have a problem they’re like ‘I know I can deal with this somehow’ verses giving up and just going down the path of negativity,” said Gill.
Another tool that they utilized in Homework Helpers was showing students what tools and resources are available to them beyond their text books.
“I always have a resource table filled with resources,” said Gill.
The pilot program in 2016 was hugely successful in helping about 20 local students gain success at school.
“A few of them are mirror images of each other where the basic thing was [the] student was failings tests, quizzes, they had a good positive attitude and they were trying but they just couldn’t…pass their tests,” said Gill.
After the student’s started working with the tutors, the students started getting 90s on their tests and quizzes.
Synergy’s inability to continue the program this year leaves the need for affordable tutoring support unfulfilled in Chestermere.
“The unfortunate thing about private tutoring is it’s fairly expensive,” said Gill.
He said it’s really unfortunate that Synergy doesn’t have the resources to continue the program at the moment.