Chris Caton, center, tutors Seth Allison, left, and Johnathan Maines, both 7 and both from Slippery Rock, during SlipperyRock University's summer tutoring program. Students at the school work to improve the reading aptitude of local grade schoolers enrolled in the program.

Students at Slippery Rock University will have a paid opportunity to tutor children in grades kindergarten through 12 in Butler County because of a grant from the Midwestern Intermediate Unit IV.

The tutoring is aimed at children being raised by people other than their parents, including children being raised by their grandparents or an aunt, uncle or other family member. Josette Skobieranda Dau, with Community Engagement at Slippery Rock University, said adults can apply for a tutor for the child they are raising, and the university will set the student up with a tutor and virtual sessions.

“When they call for information, they'll be asked what subject they would like to be tutored in,” Skobieranda Dau said. “They will be paired with an SRU tutor, and they determine the frequency of the sessions and the day.”

Wendy Kinnear, regional coordinator for Midwestern Intermediate Unit Region 5, said Wednesday, Aug. 14, that the unit earmarked about $50,000 to SRU through September to create and implement a virtual tutoring program for the 10 counties in the unit. Now that funding is running out, the Midwestern Intermediate Unit is providing budgeted funds to SRU to continue the tutoring program.

“Our students in poverty are behind academically anyway, just because of their circumstances,” Kinnear said. “Any academic support is good. We will use other grant funding to support the tutoring program.”

Slippery Rock University students who will tutor younger students have already been through training for the program, and several are education majors at the university, Skobieranda Dau said.

Kinnear said the MIU plans to continue this tutoring program, because of its impact on students in need.