Staff Board of Trustees
Tutors Tout Many Villages
“My teachers were great to work with, flexible and so appreciative. I loved the Village concept and felt a strong involvement with our school family.”
“My teacher was always prepared, gave me meaningful work and showed appreciation – doesn’t get much better than that!”
“I stand in admiration at the braveness of these little kids in tackling big words. They are so innocent and full of curiosity.”
“I really enjoyed tutoring children at Fairfax.”
Teachers Tout Many Villages
“The students got the extra individual attention they needed. The program built a strong connection between the school and the community.”
“The students couldn’t wait to see their Village tutor each week. Students loved working with another adult.”
“My students showed improvement and were receptive to all the tutors. I can’t wait to have them again next year.”
“The students and tutors made a special bond.”
Opportunity for Community Organizations
Looking for Many Villages Partners
We invite your organization to join us in making a meaningful positive difference in the lives of our community’s young people. Reaching Heights invites religious congregations, colleges, business, civic, or other community groups to sponsor a team of Many Villages volunteers. Be assured, your organization will be providing an essential service to the community AND your members will have a motivating and fulfilling experience.
It is easy to get involved. Each school’s Village tutoring program has a defined process for orienting and scheduling volunteers so becoming a Many Villages partner is a convenient way for an organization to fulfill its community outreach goals. For more information, please contact Dennis Osgood at 216-721-6974 or dennisosgood@sbcglobal.net.
Current community partners include:
Bethlehem Lutheran Church
Church of the Saviour
John Carroll University
Ursuline College
As of Fall, 2007 active programs be in place at these schools:
Canterbury Elementary School
Fairfax Elementary School
Gearity Elementary School
Noble Elementary School
Oxford Elementary School
Roxboro Elementary School
Monticello Middle School
Many Villages takes a systematic approach to recruiting, training, managing, and engaging volunteers to advance the academic success of our students. Our five year goal is to assist every Cleveland Heights-University Heights district school develop school-based programs that provide teachers and students assistance from a corps of effective and reliable volunteer tutors.
When schools are ready to participate, Reaching Heights helps the school form a teacher/parent team to shape and implement a volunteer tutoring program that meets the unique needs of their school. Program components include volunteer recruiting, teacher orientation, tutor orientation, scheduling, communication and problem solving, and evaluation and renewal. While each program design is unique, all programs increase the level of volunteer assistance available to teachers and students, and share a commitment to three program expectations. Each program will:
While parents form the backbone of each school’s academic volunteer corps, other community members are needed to provide the level of support that can assist students 
district-wide. Reaching Heights actively recruits blocks of volunteers from community organizations – religious congregations, colleges and universities, businesses and civic groups to participate.
During the 2006-07 school year the five Many Villages sites provided more than 170 hours a week of volunteer tutoring. More than 40 volunteers from local colleges and churches augmented the parent volunteers.
“The response of our parents has exceeded anything we could have expected. We proved that if we give people meaningful ways to help, they will come forward.” Stew Pharis, Coordinator, Fairfax Village
Elementary school programs are supported with a set of standards-based tutoring materials selected by Many Villages guiding team members Stephanie Myers, Jennifer Bennett and Karen Frantz and funded by the school district. The materials are easy to use tutoring activities that address specific standards based skills. They are carefully catalogued for teachers to be able to assign for tutoring sessions. A team of volunteers spent hundreds of hours preparing the tutoring kits for each participating school.
The Roxboro Elementary School PTA started the Village in the 2003-04 school year to mobilize parent volunteers so that every teacher in the school would have up to a half day of tutoring assistance each week. This successful experience inspired the Many Villages effort. In 2006 Reaching Heights received a $7,500 grant from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation to start a replication process. In the spring of 2006 planning teams at Canterbury, Fairfax and Noble designed programs that they put in place in the fall of the 2006-07 school year. Reaching Heights also worked with the principal of Oxford Elementary School to support a smaller scale pilot.
During the 2007-08 school year new programs designed in the spring will take shape at Oxford and Gearity elementary schools and Monticello Middle School. Existing programs will continue and plans will begin for Boulevard Elementary School and the remaining middle schools. Heights High’s small schools will follow.
