In general, if you email us at least three sentences about what has been or not been happening with your learner, it belongs in a report.
Below are answers to tutors' frequently asked questions:
1)Do I submit a report if little or no progress has been made?
Answer: Yes! The monthly tutor report is not necessarily a progress report. Although we want to keep abreast of any and all progress, we realize that at times the learning process moves at a snail’s pace. If this is the case with your learner, add this to the report, plus any other developments (positive or negative). We definitely want to know things like, “Joe hasn’t made any progress lately. He lost his job and had to miss a couple of sessions.” This information gives us some insight into what’s going on with you and your learner. It also helps us assist you if you feel things are stagnant.
2)Do I submit a report if we only met once or twice in the past month?
Answer: Yes! LEARN tracks the hours kept by all tutor/learner pairs, including any tutor preparation or travel time. We, in turn, pass this information to the San Diego County Library’s administration and the California State Library. Both the County and the State want to know how many volunteer hours are spent teaching adults how to read and write. Based on the information included in tutor reports, LEARN tutors spent over 10,400 hours teaching their learners literacy skills last year! This information also helps us with grants, which provide free books for our learners each year.
3)What if my learner’s goals are still the same and not much has changed? Do I still submit a report?
Answer: Yes! We’ll refer you back to the answer for Question #1. Additionally, maybe this is a good time to sit down with your learner and set new goals. If his/her goals are more long-term, maybe you can both set some goals that will help his/her progress in the short-term (i.e. complete Challenger workbook Lesson 3 in the next two weeks, each week this month read one chapter in my book, etc).
4)Do I submit a report if we did not meet and/or have not met in over one month?
Answer: No. You do not have to submit a report if you did not meet; however, we would like to know about any breaks in tutoring that have taken place (planned or unplanned). You can either send us this information via phone, email, in person, or in a tutor report.
5)I haven’t submitted a report because my learner and I stopped meeting a while ago.
Answer: The last one was a statement and not a question, but we do have an answer! If you and your learner are no longer meeting, please contact us! Let us know if you are interested in being paired with a new learner. There are always several learners waiting for tutors. We are constantly updating our database, so please keep us informed as to you and/or your learner’s status.
