This year, Barstow introduced a peer tutoring program called the Student Success Center. Tucked away in the COVE (Center of Visionary Education), the Student Success Center was a place where students from middle to upper school could receive help on any subject. Despite this service being available during all hours and after school, the center did not receive many patrons. Because of this, the Barstow administration decided to reevaluate the structure of the Student Success Center.

Candace Baldwin, the Student Success Coordinator, says, “Peer tutoring is now more supplemental and class-based. Tutors will be coordinating with the teachers… I want to make sure students get the best quality tutor and the best instruction. And so having somebody on demand that I can rely on will really help us in the long run because we have students that come to the center on a regular basis.”

Previously, peer tutoring was much more unstructured. For every hour, there would be two attending peer tutors, one to help in humanities and one to help in math and science. A student could come for help with any subject.

Although this created a service that helped students at all academic levels, it was at times difficult for tutors to help such a wide range of students. Because peer tutors are juniors and seniors in high school, many were unfamiliar with questions students had about curriculum they may have learned years ago.

Sarena Biria (‘23), a peer tutor, explains, “Although sometimes it was difficult for me to remember what I learned from a class that I took two or three years ago, I would ask the student to pull up the way that their teacher taught the specific material to them…Usually, when I looked over how to do it, I was able to remember it.”

Additionally, the Student Success Center was not receiving many patrons. Based on anecdotal comments, most tutors helped only 1-3 students last semester. The reason behind this deficit is due to a number of reasons, such as confusion as to who the tutors are and who is available.

Some students, especially younger ones, may have also been afraid to ask for help due to the stigma around asking for academic assistance.

Others simply believe that working through problems on their own is more helpful than going to the Student Success Center. With many free resources online, students can easily access help outside of school.

“For me, watching a video about how to do something is more helpful, and searching up steps is probably more convenient,” says Mariya Khan (‘26). Going to the Student Success Center in the past could also be difficult as “you had to find a time to go in, and sometimes you do not have any study halls in a day, so going isn’t very convenient,” Khan ‘26 adds.

These problems will hopefully be solved by the new peer tutoring structure. A few weeks before the end of the first semester, Mrs. Baldwin and Kory Gallagher, Assistant Director of middle and upper school, decided to restructure peer tutoring.

Tutors are now assigned to classes and will coordinate with teachers. The peer tutoring center will now offer tutoring in almost every middle and upper school math class, biology, and middle school Chinese.

Dr. Gallagher says, “Those classes were selected because they were a primary driver for visits to the Student Success Center and we determined that students would benefit from a more focused approach to supporting students in those specific courses.”

Drop-in tutoring, which offers tutoring in all subjects, will begin on January 31 during second hour and after school. Sessions focused on specific upper school courses began on February 2, while sessions for specific middle school classes will begin on February 7. 

Biria ’23 says that she thinks “it [peer tutoring] will be a lot more productive because each tutor will be refreshed in the ways that the teacher currently teaches it and what subject in the curriculum the class is doing. I also like that they kept the drop-in option because I think that is a convenient aspect of peer tutoring that is easy for the students.”

As a peer tutor myself, I understand people’s reluctance to receive peer tutoring. However, I believe that the Student Success Center is a great resource, and I hope more people will benefit from it this year.