HELPS Tutoring in
Charlotte-Mecklenberg
HELPS Charlotte Links:
On This Page:
What is HELPS?
Helping Early Literacy With Practice Strategies (HELPS) is an evidence-based program proven to improve children’s reading fluency. The highly structured HELPS program can easily be used by any trained volunteer.
One of our partners, Read Charlotte, calculates that about 20%-25% of CMS third graders learn how to sound out individual words (phonics) but don’t read with enough speed or accuracy (fluency) to build their vocabulary or understand what they are reading.
We can help more Charlotte-Mecklenburg third graders become proficient readers with a targeted focus on reading fluency.
So if you are interested in volunteer tutoring opportunities in Charlotte, HELPS could be a great option for you!
During the 2019-2020 school year,
Charlotte HELPS Tutors:
"[The HELPS Program] is elegant in its simplicity. There are a lot of reading programs where if you look at what they’re trying to do, they are trying to address multiple skills at once. HELPS is focusing on one skill — fluency."
– Munro Richardson, Read Charlotte Executive Director
Volunteer Now
Step 1
Submit CMS Background Check
Visit the CMS Volunteers website to complete your background check.
- Click “New Volunteer”
- Enter your information to create a new account
- Select up to 5 schools for tutoring
- Submit using your Social Security Number and Driver’s License
- If you attempt to use your passport, you will not receive a clearance high enough to work with our students and you will have to resubmit using your SSN and Driver’s License
- Verify your information is correct and click “Submit” at the bottom
- Your background check has been submitted!
- Enter your username and password to log into your account
- If you lost/forgot your login information, click “Lost Login or Password?” and follow the prompts to recover your information
- Verify your information is still accurate and up-to-date
- Click “Submit” at the bottom
- Your background check has been re-submitted for this school year!
Still waiting for your background check clearance? View our FAQ for more info.
Step 2
Complete HELPS Training
For New HELPS Tutors:
Register for an upcoming HELPS training.
For Returning HELPS Tutors:
Complete online recertification training.
You can still attend training if your background check is pending or not yet submitted.
Step 3
Submit Your Availability
Once you complete a New Tutor Training or the Online Returning Tutor Training, you will receive a Google Form in the post-training email to submit your availability for tutoring.
Your availability form will need to be submitted before you can be scheduled to begin tutoring
If you have questions about availability, please contact Kate Llewellyn by email at kate@helpseducationfund.org.
Step 4
Sign Up for Tutoring 2-3 Students for 1 Hour/Week
Once your background check and training have been completed, we will identify a student for you to work with. At that point, someone from the Helps Education Fund team will reach out to you to confirm the availability you indicated on your Google Form.
Once you have been paired with a student, your schedule will be shared with you in a Google Sheet, that you will be able to access with student information.
About HELPS in Charlotte
In Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS), there are a large number of students who do not read proficiently. The 2018 end-of-year assessment of 3rd grade students found that only 45% of them scored at “College and Career Ready.”
Read Charlotte estimates that 20-25% of third graders in CMS learn to sound out individual words (phonics) but do not read with enough speed, accuracy, and expression (fluency) to understand what they are reading. Reading Fluency is the link between sounding out words and the ability to read and understand text, and is a critical skill that a child must learn to meet 3rd grade reading proficiency.
An analysis of CMS third graders in 2018 found a strong correlation between third grade end-of-year oral reading fluency scores and student performance on the North Carolina third grade end-of-grade (EOG) reading assessment.
Therefore, increasing the percentage of CMS students who have proficient text reading fluency will increase the percentage of CMS 3rd graders who meet proficiency standards as “College and Career Ready” by the end of 3rd grade.
Through collaborative partnerships with corporations, community agencies, universities, and schools, Helps Education Fund aims to build a pipeline of well-trained tutors and supported teachers to meet the literacy needs of elementary students in CMS’ most challenged schools.
Helps Education Fund continues as a strong collaborative partner with Read Charlotte and we share the goal of getting 80% of CMS 3rd graders reading on grade level by 2025.
But we can't do it without you. Sign up now to be a HELPS Tutor!
Why Our Tutors Love HELPS
- Charlotte HELPS tutors work with the same 2-3 students for 1 hour each week.
- HELPS tutors report witnessing visible progress in students reading.
- One hour served by HELPS tutors per week gets students closer to reaching reading proficiency.
HELPS Charlotte Impact
During the 2019-2020 school year*:
*Results shown are through Middle of Year as HELPS tutoring ended prematurely in March 2020 due to COVID-19.
Why HELPS?
- The HELPS (Helping Early Literacy with Practice Strategies) reading fluency intervention is specifically designed to improve students’ text reading fluency.
- HELPS has over 10 years of published research supporting its effectiveness in increasing students' reading proficiency and has been found to be one of the most effective, feasible, and affordable programs for ensuring that children will succeed in reading.
- In the 2016 Educator’s Practice Guide for Early Reading Instruction, published by the U.S. Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse, HELPS was summarized as one of only a small number of reading programs that significantly improved children’s word reading, oral reading fluency, and reading comprehension.
If you are looking for tutoring opportunities and positions in Charlotte, become a HELPS tutor today.
Frequently Asked Questions
Getting Started
Our HELPS Tutors are required to attend one 3.5 hour training. To view these training opportunities and register, please click here.
If you become unavailable for the training you signed up for, please contact Emily Hall at emily@helpseducationfund.org. Then, click here to register for a training that better suits your schedule.
To submit your CMS background check, please visit www.cmsvolunteers.com and follow these steps:
If you are new to CMS Volunteering:
- Click “New Volunteer”
- Enter your information to create a new account
- Select up to 5 schools for tutoring
- Submit using your Social Security Number and Driver’s License
- If you attempt to use your passport, you will not receive a clearance high enough to work with our students and you will have to resubmit using your SSN and Driver’s License
- Verify your information is correct and click “Submit” at the bottom
- Your background check has been submitted!
If you are a returning CMS Volunteer:
- Enter your username and password to log into your account
- If you lost/forgot your login information, click “Lost Login or Password?” and follow the prompts to recover your information
- Verify your information is still accurate and up-to-date
- Click “Submit” at the bottom
- Your background check has been re-submitted for this school year!
Welcome back! We are so glad you are returning as a HELPS Tutor. Please follow these steps to reinstate your tutoring status for this school year:
- Resubmit your CMS Background Check
- Charlotte-Mecklenburg School volunteers must resubmit their background check each year they intend to volunteer. Please visit www.cmsvolunteers.com and log into your account, verify your information, and click “Submit” at the bottom. This will send your background check to be reapproved for this school year.
- Complete the HELPS Recertification Training
- You do not need to attend another in-person 3-hour training. Instead, you will complete an online, self-paced recertification module. Indicate your intent to tutor in the current school year by emailing Emily Hall at emily@helpseducationfund.org.
Once your training is complete and your background check clearance has been verified, you will receive an email requesting you to select your tutoring schedule. Thanks again for returning as a HELPS Tutor!
If you have already submitted your CMS background check and you have not received verification from Volunteer Matrix, there are a few reasons why it may not have been verified yet:
Background Check Account
All tutors must submit an application for a background check each year. Please visit www.cmsvolunteers.com to create a new account or log into an existing account and re-submit to be approved for the 2020-2021 school year.
School Affiliation
In www.cmsvolunteers.com, you can select up to 5 schools to be affiliated with. Please log back in to make sure that the school at which you intend to tutor has been selected (on smaller screens, your finger may have accidentally hit the school above or below your intended school).
Personal vs. Work Email Address
If you used a personal email address in www.cmsvolunteers.com but a work email address when registering for a training, the difference may cause a delay. Please email Emily Hall at emily@helpseducationfund.org to assist you.
Thank you for your interest in serving as a HELPS Tutor! We cannot wait to pair you with your students! Please follow these steps to become a HELPS tutor:
- Submit a CMS background check
- Charlotte-Mecklenburg School volunteers must resubmit their background check each year they intend to volunteer. Please visit www.cmsvolunteers.com and log into your account, verify your information, and click “Submit” at the bottom. This will send your background check to be reapproved for this school year.
- Attend a HELPS Training
- All of our tutors must attend a 3.5 hour training to learn how to implement the HELPS Program. Please click here to register to attend one of our upcoming HELPS trainings.
- Submit your availability
- All of our tutors must submit their availability on the Google Form sent out in their post-training email. If you did not receive the post-training email, please contact Emily Hall at emily@helpseducationfund.org.
Scheduling
- Once your background check has been verified and you have been trained, you will receive an email from a Helps Education Fund staff member to pair you with a student based on your availability.
- You will need to indicate your availability in the Google Form sent out in the post-training email.
- Please indicate the number of days per week you are willing to tutor, and the full length of time you are available in the Google Form.
If you need to be absent one day, please contact your school’s Site Coordinator. Their contact information is below:
| Halo Paul | halo@helpseducationfund.org | Marie G. Davis, Reedy Creek, Cornelius |
| Jasmine Fuentes | jasmine@helpseducationfund.org | Montclaire, University Meadows, Nations Ford |
| Melissa Walker | melissa@helpseducationund.org | Billingsville, Cotswold |
| Kristal Valcin | kristal@helpseducationfund.org | Sterling, Greenway Park, Huntingtowne Farms |
| Katherine Kitchen | katherine@helpseducationfund.org | Ashley Park, Westerly Hills |
It would be great if you could tutor more than 1 hour per week! Additional tutoring time gets our students closer to reaching their literacy goals. When you indicate your tutoring availability in the Google Form sent out in the post-training email, please select all days and times you are available to tutor and your desired number of hours.