Black Star tutor Catherine Newry helps 11-year-old Kerdeem Campbell with his French homework.
A new program geared toward black students is trying to help them reach their full academic potential.
Jaku Konbit, a non-profit organization in Centretown, has launched Black Star Tutoring, a new mobile tutoring program primarily targeting African and Caribbean students in Grades 3 to 12 to help them overcome academic difficulties.
It provides in-home tutoring for students in core subject areas such as math, English, French and science.
Ken Campbell, president of Jaku Konbit, says the program is unique because most of its tutors are also of African and Caribbean descent.
“What we are trying to show is that in very ethnic group and culture there are outstanding students who they can identify with and are doing extremely well,” Campbell says. “It will serve as a positive role model and let the kids know that it’s not just basketball and sports.”
He says the program was launched after a research paper was published for Jaku Konbit by Carleton University students entitled Uncovering Barriers and Identifying Pathways to Educational Success for African and Caribbean Youth in Ottawa. After conducting three focus groups with students from grades 9 to 12, the researchers recommended a tutoring program. The students were asked to identify challenges they face in school.
Campbell says the program, which began in September, is available to students for $20 per hour. He says they could have made the program free, but the organization wants parents to realize it is important to invest in their child’s education.
“The message we want to pass to parents is that you can’t put a value on education,” Campbell says.
Before a student is paired with a tutor, program manager Pascale Newry visits the family to do an initial assessment and explain how the program works. The family then gets a second visit by the tutor, who does a more in-depth assessment and goes through the student’s report card to determine their specific needs. The family and the tutor then decide how they will proceed.
In addition to in-home tutoring, there are three locations where parents can drop their children off for tutoring sessions on Saturdays if they are uncomfortable with a tutor in their home: 1955 Bank St. S., 945 Wellington St., and the Hardini Centre at 225 Donald St.
“None of our parents have taken advantage of it so far, but it is an option available to them,” Newry says.
She says she follows up with families to evaluate student progress, and so far the program has been getting good feedback from families and tutors.
“We gauge our success not only with grades but also with improved study habits and improved motivation,” she says.
Although the program was initially targeted to black students, Newry says the organization recognizes that all students have challenges and is opening up the program to anyone who is looking to provide their child with affordable tutoring and mentorship.
Catherine Newry, a tutor with the Black Star program, says she sees evidence that the program is working in one of the students she is tutoring in French. She says she does not allow him to speak English during the session, and he has become more comfortable speaking the language, even correcting his own grammar mistakes immediately because he knows she will catch them.
She says there is a stigma among black students about completing high school and there is a low expectation in the school system.
“Students think that people around them aren’t succeeding so why should they bother? So it’s important for them to see that we’re out there, we are succeeding and we are doing well.”