Students are now required to receive their teacher’s signature before requesting a one-on-one peer tutor from the Academic Skills Center. Julie Powers, Administrative Assistant of the Academic Skills Center (ASC), said that this change will generate dialogue between potentially struggling students and their teachers. Before implementing this policy, the ASC staff discussed the change with math and science department chairs throughout Winter Term. Prior to this change, the teacher would only receive a copy of the peer tutor assignment after it was made, according to Powers. “Often, this was the first time that the classroom teacher actually knew about their student struggling with the material in their class,” wrote Powers in an e-mail to The Phillipian. “Having a conversation with the teacher may ease [the student’s] mind and give them a chance to discuss the syllabus and assignments prior to getting help from a tutor. We hope that this minor change in the request process helps to facilitate communication between students, teachers and the ASC by working together through the peer tutor assignment,” Powers continued.
