Heart Math Tutoring and Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools: Looking Back at Our First Year of Partnership

June 20, 2024

Last month, students, along with their families and tutors, gathered for the very first Heart Math Tutoring End-of-Year Celebration in Winston-Salem! The event was full of smiles and laughter as excited Bolton Elementary students received their participation certificates and played math games with their proud families and tutors. Principal Frazier expressed her gratitude to those in attendance, saying, “Thank you to tutors from Heart Math Tutoring, experiencing it through the eyes of children, it has been phenomenal. Thank you, families, for entrusting us and our volunteers with your young ones. They have had and made phenomenal growth.” All of us at Heart Math Tutoring share Principal Frazier’s sentiments and we are excited to highlight some of our favorite moments and remarks from the first year of programming in Winston-Salem!

In the spring of 2023, the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School (WS/FCS) Board voted unanimously to begin a partnership with Heart Math Tutoring and bring Heart’s program to two schools in the 2023/24 school year, Bolton and Easton Elementary, to provide Winston-Salem elementary students with access to one-on-one math instruction and mentorship. Excitement over the summer led way to a successful first year that resulted in significant learning and growth for Heart students, and with over 70 volunteer tutors who met with their students weekly, the Winston-Salem community showed their dedication to supporting Heart’s mission.

Throughout the school year, students enrolled in Heart’s program worked with their tutors on developing critical math skills through Heart’s game-based curriculum. Students loved being able to work toward their math goals with their tutors each week and their confidence grew from the encouragement they received. Strong relationships are an integral part of Heart’s core model, and getting to know their students is often what tutors say they enjoy most about tutoring! One Easton tutor said, “The structure of the program makes it simple to have a positive influence on children. Starting my day working with a second grader is the highlight of my week!” Similarly, a tutor at Bolton shared, “Heart is an amazing opportunity to form relationships with students in the community and help them grow academically and socially!”

Teachers and math specialists nominated  students for Heart’s program who they believed would most benefit from extra math instruction, and saw positive results from the time their students spent in tutoring. Bolton Elementary teacher Ms. Huber shared, “[Heart is] a great program that focuses on foundational math skills in a reading centered world, and my students bonded with their tutors which made going much more fun.”

One of Heart’s very important, and heart-warming, measures of success is the feedback from those that are most impacted by this year’s new partnership, Heart students! Watch the video, linked below, made by the incredible staff at Easton Elementary, to hear the students’ thoughts on tutoring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP7fUQwGz-A

Expanding to a new city requires extensive community support from those that believe in Heart’s program model as an effective way to support students with bridging gaps and building confidence. Thank you to Heart’s partners in Winston-Salem that provided the necessary funds and volunteer recruitment support to make this inaugural year possible; we could not have done this without you! See the full list of community partners here. Additionally, thank you to Heart’s Winston-Salem Team and Steering Committee for all your work to connect students with volunteers.

We are grateful for our volunteers, donors, and school partners for your dedication to making a difference in the lives of Winston-Salem students this year, and we look forward to continuing to expand and deepen our collective impact for years to come!

To support programming in Winston-Salem in the 2024/25 school year, click here to sign up as a volunteer tutor and here to become a donor. Please contact Heart’s Executive Director of National Partnerships, Cydney Kramer Clifton, to inquire about becoming a local partner with Heart or with questions about Heart’s program in Winston-Salem.