ta Children in the College Environment Community colleges have become increasingly site. The college staff enthusiastically supports the @ diverse. They have had to shift gears to better serve the Learning Center’s opening the doors of the college to the growing numbers of nontraditional students. young people of the community. One of Hazard Community College’s most unique programs, established to offer a special service to all of its Lisa Helf, Coordinator, Learning Center students, is After-School Tutoring. Beginning on a small scale five years ago, this program now offers three For further information, contact the author at Hazard sessions per year, orchestrated by a coordinator, instruc- Community College, Highway 15 South, One Commu- tional specialists, and a host of tutors. The program, nity College Drive, Hazard, KY 41701-2402. housed in the Learning Center, is designed to offer the facility, equipment, materials, and learning specialists to the community. About six weeks before the after-school program is to begin, information is sent to local media (television, newspapers, and radio). Public school principals, counselors, and teachers are notified directly. Parents (and sometimes the children themselves) make arrangements for attendance, either on Mondays and Wednesdays, or Tuesdays and Thursdays. Two time slots are available, each one and a half hours in length. Children may enroll in two programs of study. The fall session begins in October, when report cards for the first nine weeks of public school are distributed— the distribution of report cards usually brings an influx of students. The spring session begins shortly after Christ- mas break. The first afternoon in the Learning Center, students are assessed in the areas they choose to study. & Individualized plans of instruction are designed, based on students’ assessment scores. The Learning Center has a variety of materials avail- able as learning aids. Books, workbooks, and worksheets are the more traditional materials, but computers are becoming the most popular teaching tools. An instruc- tional specialist writes the lessons; tutors grade assign- ments and report each child’s progress to the specialist. The six-week summer tutoring program is in session during the college’s summer school. Students are divided into groups by grade levels (1-4, 5-8, and 9-12), and a different coordinator works with each age group. Unlike the spring and fall sessions, the summer session meets Monday through Thursday for one and a half hours. A more relaxed summer atmosphere lends itself to more creative learning experiences. Outdoor games and pizza parties are used for breaks from learning activities and are excellent strategies for promoting friendships and a sense of community among the children and staff members. The children want to participate in the tutoring program because it requires that they come to the college. Fortunately, many HCC students are willing to tutor on- Suanne D. Roueche, Editor @ January 28, 1994, Vol. XVI, No. 2 INNOVATION ABSTRACTS is a publication of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD), ©The University of Texas at Austin, 1994 Department of Educational Administration, College of Education, EDB 348, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas Further duplication is permitted by MEMBER 78712, (512) 471-7545. Funding in part by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and the Sid W. Richardson Foundation. ksued weekly institutions for their own personnel. when classes are in session during fall and spring terms. ISSN 0199-106X.