• National TutorMate program sets goal to pair 1,000 corporate tutors with Detroit students by 2020
• Hitting goal would double current number of corporate tutors reading with students through the nonprofit program
• Vitti says district is reviewing effectiveness of this and other tutoring programs as it makes curriculum decisions for the future

Evanston, Ill.-based nonprofit Innovations for Learning has set a goal to have 1,000 corporate tutors reading with at-risk first-graders in Detroit schools by 2020.

After slow and steady growth since 2009 when it entered the market, it's about halfway there.

The program has growing corporate support and has shown some measurable success in helping students improve their reading levels, confidence and engagement in learning.

But it's one of several tutoring programs working with students in the Detroit Public Schools Community District that are under review as Superintendent Nikolai Vitti and his team rework the district's curriculum.

TutorMate "is an excellent resource for schools to strengthen partnerships with the business community," Vitti said in an emailed statement.

Vitti said he's seen initial corporate support through the TutorMate program in Miami and Jacksonville blossom into broader and deeper support for schools.

Here in Detroit, individual schools have initiated the partnership with TutorMate, Vitti said.

"We are evaluating the effectiveness of the program, along with many others, as we plan and make curriculum decisions next year."

Of the 26 cities the TutorMate program is operating, Detroit has the second-highest number of corporate tutors, with 493, coming in only behind Innovations for Learning's home city of Chicago which has 525.

The list of local companies and nonprofits supporting the program with funding and tutors has grown to more than 16.

Participating companies include: AT&T, Amerisure Insurance Co., Brooks Kushman, Comerica Bank, DNV GL, DTE Energy Co., General Motors Co., Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Lear Corp., Masco Corp., Miller Canfield Paddock and Stone PLC, Quicken Loans Inc., UBS, U.S. Dept. of Justice and United Way of Southeastern Michigan, which sometimes aggregates a few other organizations which it recruits under its own umbrella, such as FCA-USA, said Dan Weisberg, national director for TutorMate.

The convenience TutorMate offers is its biggest selling point, Weisberg said.

"The assumption is there's a lot of busy professionals who would like to give back to the community in a way that's life-changing and meaningful. But the more traditional avenues have required a time commitment that's typically beyond their capacity, given their jobs."

Corporate tutors, who must go through annual background checks, Skype from their desk, home or wherever they have Internet access, to work on reading with a student they are paired with for a half-hour each week during the school year. Corporate contributions of about $5,000 for 30 tutors and students or $2,000 for 10 students help cover the purchase of a computer and headset and teacher and tutor training on the TutorMate software and website.

Students chosen for the program are only slightly behind in reading, capable of dealing with the technology and likely to benefit from the one-on-one interaction.

The virtual environment cuts out commuting time for tutors, enables them to choose the weekly time that works best for them and to reschedule at the last minute if needed.

The goal of engaging 1,000 tutors in Detroit "is a great psychological milestone that may allow the program to grow even bigger ... and perhaps serve other high-need school districts in Southeast Michigan," said Weisberg, a Detroit native.

"More districts and companies will take a closer look when we surpass 1,000 tutors."

The program focuses largely on students in first grade because it's the most critical grade from a reading development standpoint, and students are very eager for and responsive to the support at that age, he said.

Tutors "have an opportunity to have an impact not only on their reading participation but their psycho social attitudes about themselves as achievers, including their feelings about academics, school, reading (and) learning," Weisberg said.

And by working with students who just need a little extra help, it gives the teacher "extra bandwidth" to work with students who are further behind, he said.

For confidentiality reasons, TutorMate doesn't collect student data that would show the exact progress each student makes, Weisberg said.

But a randomized study done in 2014-15 by Epsilon Economics in Chicago at Innovations In Learning's request found that students who received the tutoring scored 15 percent higher on district reading tests than a control group of students.

That difference puts TutorMate students about a reading level ahead of their peers, Weisberg said.

To put that in context, in general, the goal is to move a first-grader up six or seven reading levels during the school year, he said.

The program brings benefits that extend well beyond reading ability, said Dina Bonomo, principal of Bennett Elementary School in Southwest Detroit.

TutorMate tutors from Quicken are currently working with about 60 students in six classrooms, she said. Some of the students are in second-grade rather than first in order to give bilingual children still working on their foundational reading skills extra help, Bonomo said.

When students have someone to listen and to ask them questions about what they're reading, they have a cheerleader, someone rooting for them, she said. If attendance is an issue, the TutorMate program is also a motivator.

"They don't want to miss their phone call from their corporate tutor. It's a good way to encourage them not to miss school," Bonomo said.

Children also benefit emotionally from having an adult interested in their progress and willing to listen to them read out loud. And they are exposed to career opportunities they may never have known existed, she said.

Eighty-six employees of the Quicken Loans family of companies are currently tutoring in Detroit schools.

Initially, Quicken looked to TutorMate as a convenient way for its employees to make an impact, but its employee tutors quickly realized the program was making a difference both in building reading skills and confidence in young students, said Laura Grannemann, vice president of strategic investments for the Quicken Loans Community Investment Fund, in an emailed statement.

"A shy student might turn into a totally different kid by June," she said.

Now in its seventh year of volunteering through TutorMate, Comerica Bank has 70 of its local employees working with students in Detroit schools.

The program provides the greatest impact for the volunteer hours employees are contributing, as every minute of their volunteer time is spent helping children learn, said Mark Fontana, senior vice president, director-enterprise data and analytics.

"Our colleagues take pride knowing they've helped prepare a student for second grade and beyond."