UPPER BURRELL, Pa. — Penn State New Kensington will launch a pilot program, Penn State Homework Hotline, in spring 2016 for free math tutoring to students in local school districts.
The Homework Hotline will provide tutoring sessions for middle and high school students by telephone or email on evenings throughout the school year. Penn State Berks and Schuylkill also are a part of the program.
Campus students with strong math skills, such as engineering and information sciences majors, will serve as tutors, guiding students through their homework problems by focusing on the terms and processes. Tutoring will be conducted from 7 to 10 p.m., Sunday to Thursday, during the school year. The inaugural program will focus on math courses that lead to calculus, such algebra, geometry, and trigonometry. Calculus and science courses will be added as the program expands.
“Access to tutoring helps give all youth a pathway to develop critical math and science skills, allowing them to succeed in today’s work environment, which places a premium on STEM abilities,” said Colleen Smith, outreach coordinator for the New Kensington campus.
Two local school districts, New Kensington-Arnold and Burrell, will participate in the first stage of the pilot.
Penn State New Kensington is well-known for its technology programs — electro-mechanical engineering technology, biomedical engineering technology, and information sciences and technology. Since its founding in 1958, engineering has been the most popular major for incoming students at the campus. The engineering building was the first academic building constructed when the campus moved to its current Upper Burrell location in 1966.
Rose-Hulman Institute Homework HotlineThe Penn State program is based on the Homework Hotline model designed by the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana. Founded in 1874, Rose-Hulman prepares students for careers in engineering, science and mathematics. The Penn State campuses have partnered with the institute to replicate aspects of its mathematics and sciences tutoring service
“Penn State wants to support the work of high schools and middle schools in helping students to graduate with proficiencies in math,” Smith said. “As Penn State Commonwealth campuses, we are uniquely perched across the state to offer students a service that will help to hold doors open to education and careers that require skill in science, technology, engineering and math.”
Rose-Hulman’s Homework Hotline has helped more than 500,000 Indiana students since 1991 through tutoring via toll-free phone calls, emails and online resources. The service, supported by the Indiana-based Lilly Endowment Inc., conducted 33,500 tutoring sessions during the 2014-15 school year.
“We hope this partnership with Penn State will continue to pave the way for other Homework Hotline programs throughout America,” said Susan Smith Roads, director of Rose-Hulman’s Homework Hotline and Learning Center. “The Homework Hotline uses Rose-Hulman students, who are gifted in math and science, and trains them to help secondary students to improve their problem-solving abilities and become more confident in their math skills. Other colleges could do this as well.”
For more information on the Penn state Homework Hotline, contact Colleen Smith at 724-334-6138 or cms64@psu.edu.