Educating a student takes all hands on deck. From teachers, to paraprofessionals, and everyone else in the school building, everyone plays a part, no matter how big or small.  

Still, the district recognizes that additional help outside of the school walls can be helpful. Over the past two school years, the district has partnered with UPchieve to provide free online tutoring services for students.  

While the tutoring services are just for 6th-8th grade students at the moment, UPchieve is looking to expand their reach. Using the service is simple. Students just log in and connect with a live, certified tutor over any core subject area. Students can even load their worksheets into the service for additional context. Translation services are available, too.

“The tutors will work with them for as long as it takes to learn a skill,” said Michelle Stowell, a district instructional coach. “They even have language translation, which is really helpful. And they’re looking to expand to meet our students’ needs.”  

To encourage participation this year, Upchieve has added monthly raffles. Students get a ticket in the raffle for each tutoring session that they complete. The raffles — along with increased awareness about the service — has increased UPchieve usage.  

“A lot of students are using it when their teacher might be absent to get another layer of assistance,” said Mrs. Stowell.  

“Definitely more kids are using it this year. We’ve put up different posters throughout the building and some teachers are putting it in their learning paths as well as a reminder. It’s perfect for remote learning if the student missed the live instruction from the teacher.”