Indigenous Tutoring

Indigenous Tutoring will help close the gap in Indigenous students falling behind in school. COVID-19 exasperated this issue as reservations are negatively impacted at a much higher rate. This leads to students having an increased level of insecurity at home, resulting in less bandwidth to excel in school. Indigenous Tutoring will tutor students in classes they are falling behind in along with SAT/ACT preparation virtually.

The Indigenous education system is underdeveloped. Our students are performing below grade level and struggle to score highly on standardized tests. It has been shown that these forms of testing disproportionately affect lower income/minority communities. The sad reality is that test-optional or not, schools look at standardized testing as a measure of a student's future success. This problem is only extended due to the global pandemic. Indigenous Tutoring is helping this issue by virtually tutoring students across the nation to allow students to improve their future from any location.

My solution is gathering Indigenous tutors from across the nation via high school/college student groups, community events, newsletters, etc. These individuals will be volunteering their time to develop Indigenous communities across the US. The money will be spent on chromebooks/tablets so the tutors can use a virtual white board to teach while the students on the other end can skype/zoom and learn. These devices will be held at a central community location and be available to borrow for the tutoring purpose. Further fundraising will be done to allow more devices purchased and distributed to reach more students.

This issue became apparent to me after analyzing the standardized "MAP" testing scores of Indigenous students in Tulsa Public Schools. I was appalled after seeing how many students are below grade level and how this affects them later in life. When the Indigenous community was sent a questionnaire about what issues are most important to them, tutoring came back as a dominant response. This issue was extended when reading how much worse reservations are being torn apart by COVID-19. I believe someone needs to step in with a hands-on solution to directly improve these students' testing scores with new opportunities. This solution will spread to communities across the US. I will roll out this program first to students in the Tulsa Public Schools system and then the Eastern Band of Cherokee school system in Cherokee, North Carolina. This solution will benefit both communities by providing much needed tutoring services to students that are in dire need of aid.

The problem of low standardized testing scores in Indigenous students pertains to the Fellowship as our K-12 education is lacking for Indigenous students, leaving them with less opportunity than students living in wealthy urban areas. The Indigenous Tutoring solution aligns by using technology to drive social, environmental, and economic change by investing in the change makers of tomorrow. The future of our tribal nations rely on the education of our youth. The target population is Indigenous students and communities, the Fellowship's intended goal.

What makes my solution unique is that it directly caters to the Indigenous students in need. These students will be tutored by other Indigenous people. This is key as Indigenous youth learning styles have been researched and shown to be different than their white counterparts. Along with this, seeing other Indigenous faces in an academic setting is an inspiration in of itself, showing the students role models of other Indigenous peoples who have succeeded in their education.

The core technology of the solution is Zoom/Skype. The development and recent increased use during the pandemic has improved the software capability and ease of use to allow seamless tutoring opportunities for Indigenous students from tutors across the nation.

Zoom/Skype tutoring is growing in use from expensive test prep companies to allow one on one and group tutoring from home. This has grown to the next level during the pandemic to many school systems across the nation hosting class time on Zoom/Skype.

My solution will have an impact on indigenous students' standardized testing scores and school performance overall by allowing one on one (and potentially group) tutoring sessions free of cost. Tutoring has been shown in endless studies to be effective, but these services can be as expensive as over $100 per hour. This is unreasonable on many levels and extends the gap in education between socioeconomic levels.

Current: 0

One year: 50

Five years: 250

To start the project, I will personally be the first tutor. From this point I will reach out to the local Indigenous student network and email chain and invite parents with students in need of tutoring to send me an email with their age, grade, and what subject they need help in. I have already received interest from Indigenous high school students in Tulsa that are wanting to volunteer their time tutoring younger students and peers. Once this has begun, I will reach out to the Cherokee One Feather newspaper to expand the tutoring network and tutoring services to the next region. My network of Indigenous students across the US will be utilized to spread the word to other Indigenous student groups to gather more tutors and reach out to their local school systems. As more students are involved, the impact on Indigenous communities will exponentially increase.

The dominant barrier to reaching my goals for this project are financial. I will need the ability to supply at least one Chromebook/tablet to each area with students involved so those without technology at home can still receive aid. 

This barrier will begin to be overcome with the Solve MIT grant and extended with fundraising. Tutoring services will be free, but optional donations will be available to families that are able to pay. This money will be fed directly back into the project. Fundraising events will also be held in person and online to raise as much money as possible. I will reach out to Indian Education programs across the country and ask if they would be willing to sponsor a device to allow greater spread of Indigenous Tutoring.

The project would be volunteer with a goal of registering as a non-profit in the future to allow donations to be tax deductible.

I hope for around 10 regular volunteer tutors in the first year.

I am uniquely able to execute this plan with my network of Indigenous student groups across the US. With connects to the Native groups at Stanford and Yale, along with several high school Indigenous groups, Indigenous Tutoring will have no issue growing at a healthy rate with new tutors across the country.

I am the chair of the Coalition for the Betterment of Indian Education, a group of educators and other valuable team members working to develop the Indian Ed program in Tulsa and beyond.

I am also the co founder of the Tulsa Native Youth Board, a group of students that participate in cultural enrichment and community engagement.

These are both organizations that are valuable in my solution as the necessary network is already fairly developed.

Assuming we reach non-profit status, I would allow donations for tutoring if the family has the resources, as well as hosting fundraising events. None of the services directly cost money to the students that can not afford it, so donations/grants/fundraisers would be the backbone of financial stability.

The grant associated with Solve is beneficial, although the greatest benefit is a developed network as well as mentorship. With opportunities such as MIT Solve, the network associated is invaluable as well as the teachings that come along with it. Particularly with the Indigenous centered fellowship, the reach to Indian country is extensive, allowing the network of fellows to be incredibly valuable.

When I think of a partner, I envision a mentor. I do not need someone at the phone 24/7, but rather an individual that I can schedule a phone call with in the next couple weeks and help me work through problems. Everyone knows something that I don't and can expand on my ideas as well as provide better options.

I would like to partner with other fellows of the Indigenous Community Fellowship. If one individual is willing to aid in connecting me with their local youth group, that is an incredibly helpful connection.