Thelma was in extreme poverty and like most children in her situation was not doing well in school. Now she is in her third year at Princeton University after attending a charter school and Classen School of Advanced Studies in Oklahoma City.
Nelson’s mother and step-mother were both in prison and he was an angry first grader who was not really ready for first grade. However, by the time he was in the fifth grade, Nelson was reading on a seventh grade level and was accepted into a charter school and currently is on the honor roll in high school planning to go to college.
These are just two success stories shared by Masie Bross, director of the highly acclaimed Whiz Kids program in Oklahoma City, during a START Dropout/Retention Prevention Policy Board meeting at Gordon Cooper Technology Center.
Whiz Kids is a faith-based tutoring program that works with the Oklahoma City Public Schools targeting disadvantaged students in second through fifth grades. The program puts together a host church in the inner city that is near an elementary school with a suburban church. The host church provides the weekly meeting space and the suburban church provides the volunteer tutors.
Currently, Whiz Kids is involved with 22 Title I elementary schools and two middle schools in Oklahoma City. Volunteer tutors come from 54 metro churches from 13 denominations to tutor more than 1,000 students in those schools.
While the program is considered a success, Bross said there are 20,000 children who need the program.
Bross and her husband, Larry, began Whiz Kids 13 years ago when they began attending an inner city church and noticed the depth of poverty that existed. She said they had been totally unaware of the problems when living and attending church in the suburbs.
“My husband first got involved in a homeless breakfast program the church was sponsoring,” she said. “Within two months the church was feeding more than 2,000 homeless people.”
Larry Bross began to develop relationships with many of the homeless and became aware of the overall depth of problems faced by the poor and disadvantaged.
He discovered nearly 90 percent of children in Oklahoma City Public Schools qualify for Title I funds, or free and reduced lunches.
Bross said the major problem facing at-risk kids is literacy, pointing out that 74 percent of Oklahoma’s fourth graders read below the proficient grade level. Literacy is seen as the largest obstacle to performing well in school and it has been estimated that low literacy costs the American economy $225 billion a year in lost productivity.
She says less than half of the students in Oklahoma City high schools in the 2003-2004 school year graduated.
The Bross’ decided to start the Whiz Kids program after visiting their daughter in Colorado who was working with a Whiz Kids program there.
With a focus on literacy, the Whiz Kids program provides one-on-one tutoring where tutors are matched with a child for weekly sessions for 32 weeks. The meetings are held at the host church in group settings.
Bross said the reason for using churches near the elementary schools is to keep the children in their neighborhood, rather than trying to remove them from their community. Volunteer tutors are recruited from suburban churches which have been paired with the host church.
This system not only provides tutoring for the children, but the mix of volunteers from the more affluent areas with the lower income community has been an educational experience that has benefited both.
Each Whiz Kids session includes one hour for one-on-one tutoring, 10 minutes for snack time and 20 minutes for “Club Time” (a group session that addresses character issues).
She said that parents have to give approval for the religious-based Club Time and only about 1 percent of the parents objected to their children taking part.
The success of the program can be seen in improved test scores. Between 2005 and 2007 the Whiz Kids children in the fourth grade scored 736 on the OCCT reading scores compared with 678 for their matched group that did not receive tutoring. The Whiz Kids fifth graders scored 730 verses 671 in the matched group.
Whiz Kids performed well above the state’s “satisfactory” level while the non-tutored children performed well below.
“We have found that people who attend churches seem to be more willing to volunteer to help people.”
She was asked about background checks on volunteers and she said “we do thorough background checks. In fact I just paid a bill for $7,000 for background checks.
“We check sexual predator lists, OSBI, driving record and court records,” she said. She also pointed out that tutors and children are never in a one-on-one situation outside of the group tutoring sessions.
“When children are driven home there are always two tutors and two children,” Bross said.
When asked if Shawnee was interested in Whiz Kids, Bross said “it would be best for Shawnee to have its own program.”
Whiz Kids is funded by nearly a 50/50 split between grants and funds raised in the community.
She said the most difficult part of recruiting volunteers is the 32 week commitment, but Whiz Kids refuses to accept people who were unwilling to make the commitment. She said part of the success is the fact the child knows his or her tutor will be there and cares enough about them to be there every week.
Bross said 72 percent of the tutors come back the following year. When volunteers return for a second year they remain paired with the same child.
“We have had some that have been with the same child for five years,” she said.
She went on to say that close relationships are established, and “three kids have been adopted by their tutor.”
Whiz Kids is a 501(c) (3) organization with a limited paid staff. Each tutoring site also includes a public school teacher who provides assistance to the tutors who also are paid a small amount for their service.
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Thelma was in extreme poverty and like most children in her situation was not doing well in school. Now she is in her third year at Princeton University after attending a charter school and Classen School of Advanced Studies in Oklahoma City.
Nelson’s mother and step-mother were both in prison and he was an angry first grader who was not really ready for first grade. However, by the time he was in the fifth grade, Nelson was reading on a seventh grade level and was accepted into a charter school and currently is on the honor roll in high school planning to go to college.
These are just two success stories shared by Masie Bross, director of the highly acclaimed Whiz Kids program in Oklahoma City, during a START Dropout/Retention Prevention Policy Board meeting at Gordon Cooper Technology Center.
Whiz Kids is a faith-based tutoring program that works with the Oklahoma City Public Schools targeting disadvantaged students in second through fifth grades. The program puts together a host church in the inner city that is near an elementary school with a suburban church. The host church provides the weekly meeting space and the suburban church provides the volunteer tutors.
Currently, Whiz Kids is involved with 22 Title I elementary schools and two middle schools in Oklahoma City. Volunteer tutors come from 54 metro churches from 13 denominations to tutor more than 1,000 students in those schools.
While the program is considered a success, Bross said there are 20,000 children who need the program.
Bross and her husband, Larry, began Whiz Kids 13 years ago when they began attending an inner city church and noticed the depth of poverty that existed. She said they had been totally unaware of the problems when living and attending church in the suburbs.
“My husband first got involved in a homeless breakfast program the church was sponsoring,” she said. “Within two months the church was feeding more than 2,000 homeless people.”
Larry Bross began to develop relationships with many of the homeless and became aware of the overall depth of problems faced by the poor and disadvantaged.
He discovered nearly 90 percent of children in Oklahoma City Public Schools qualify for Title I funds, or free and reduced lunches.
Bross said the major problem facing at-risk kids is literacy, pointing out that 74 percent of Oklahoma’s fourth graders read below the proficient grade level. Literacy is seen as the largest obstacle to performing well in school and it has been estimated that low literacy costs the American economy $225 billion a year in lost productivity.
She says less than half of the students in Oklahoma City high schools in the 2003-2004 school year graduated.
The Bross’ decided to start the Whiz Kids program after visiting their daughter in Colorado who was working with a Whiz Kids program there.
With a focus on literacy, the Whiz Kids program provides one-on-one tutoring where tutors are matched with a child for weekly sessions for 32 weeks. The meetings are held at the host church in group settings.
Bross said the reason for using churches near the elementary schools is to keep the children in their neighborhood, rather than trying to remove them from their community. Volunteer tutors are recruited from suburban churches which have been paired with the host church.
This system not only provides tutoring for the children, but the mix of volunteers from the more affluent areas with the lower income community has been an educational experience that has benefited both.
Each Whiz Kids session includes one hour for one-on-one tutoring, 10 minutes for snack time and 20 minutes for “Club Time” (a group session that addresses character issues).
She said that parents have to give approval for the religious-based Club Time and only about 1 percent of the parents objected to their children taking part.
The success of the program can be seen in improved test scores. Between 2005 and 2007 the Whiz Kids children in the fourth grade scored 736 on the OCCT reading scores compared with 678 for their matched group that did not receive tutoring. The Whiz Kids fifth graders scored 730 verses 671 in the matched group.
Whiz Kids performed well above the state’s “satisfactory” level while the non-tutored children performed well below.
“We have found that people who attend churches seem to be more willing to volunteer to help people.”
She was asked about background checks on volunteers and she said “we do thorough background checks. In fact I just paid a bill for $7,000 for background checks.
“We check sexual predator lists, OSBI, driving record and court records,” she said. She also pointed out that tutors and children are never in a one-on-one situation outside of the group tutoring sessions.
“When children are driven home there are always two tutors and two children,” Bross said.
When asked if Shawnee was interested in Whiz Kids, Bross said “it would be best for Shawnee to have its own program.”
Whiz Kids is funded by nearly a 50/50 split between grants and funds raised in the community.
She said the most difficult part of recruiting volunteers is the 32 week commitment, but Whiz Kids refuses to accept people who were unwilling to make the commitment. She said part of the success is the fact the child knows his or her tutor will be there and cares enough about them to be there every week.
Bross said 72 percent of the tutors come back the following year. When volunteers return for a second year they remain paired with the same child.
“We have had some that have been with the same child for five years,” she said.
She went on to say that close relationships are established, and “three kids have been adopted by their tutor.”
Whiz Kids is a 501(c) (3) organization with a limited paid staff. Each tutoring site also includes a public school teacher who provides assistance to the tutors who also are paid a small amount for their service.
