In 2013 the Middleboro Rotary club partnered with Middleboro Public Schools to create an innovative tutoring program called Rotary Rays which serves students in grades 4 and 5 at both the Mary K Goode and Henry B Burkland Elementary Schools. Participating students and their parents enter into a contract where the students agree to attend all sessions and work at home an additional hour per week with their parents, and the parents agree to make sure their child attends the sessions and does the homework. Over the years students who have participated in the program have made dramatic gains in their performance on MCAS.
We have fully funded the Rotary Rays program each year since its inception, roughly $14,000 per year, to sponsor elementary school tutoring that helps dozens of youngsters each year to meet or exceed educational goals. This tutoring helps bring them ‘above the line’ in Math and/or English and has been tremendously successful. It not only assists them in those subjects, it also engenders a ‘Can Do’ attitude in them that they apply in other subjects, and life.