Volunteers
Who can volunteer?
At this time, we are only open to volunteers that are full-time Microsoft employees based in the United States. We are looking to expand our pool of volunteers in the future, so if you don’t currently fit into those criteria, but are still interested in helping out, join our mailing list at the bottom of the page or send us a general inquiry!
How does it work?
The mission of Care for Students is to enable skilled volunteers from around the world to improve learning outcomes for the next generation of driven public-school students, particularly those of low-income and underrepresented backgrounds, through intimate and engaging virtual, small-group tutoring. Our strategy focuses on four main pillars.
Virtual Tutoring Sessions
These virtual, small-group tutoring sessions last one hour and recur weekly. Each session consists of two co-volunteers and 3-5 middle or high school students. Volunteers can either choose to co-tutor with a friend, or have us match them to a random volunteer based on their availability (and make a new friend!). After co-volunteers are matched, they are connected to a weekly tutoring session slot and an educator at one of our partner schools.
Each tutoring session slot focuses specifically on a single grade-level and subject (i.e. 8th Grade Math), and aligns to the curriculum of the educator and their students. The educator will most likely be a teacher, administrator, or interventionist/case worker. Their role is to provide the volunteers with materials each week as well as invite students to the tutoring sessions.
Co-volunteers tutor the same students for one hour each week over the course of a semester-long cohort. Through connection, care, and communication, tutors empower their students with a deeper understanding of course material, support their teachers with feedback and Microsoft Volunteer Match donations, all the while refining their own teaching and leadership skills.
Feedback for Teachers
After each tutoring session volunteers fill out a Volunteer Reflection Template. This is a small form for the tutors to reflect on their own experience teaching the session, as well as provide valuable feedback for teachers on their students' learning. For example: are students excelling in circular circumference, but struggling with circular area? That information is invaluable for teachers, and writing it down will give educators the tools to make the best use of limited class time.
Measured Outcomes
We believe learning should be measured both quantitatively and qualitatively. To measure a students subjective learning experience, we provide a survey at the beginning and end of the program with questions vetted by teachers and specifically targeted to help students reflect on their levels of understanding. In addition, to the extent that the educator is comfortable with sharing, we also monitor our impact on student test performance.
Targeted Philanthropy
Using the Microsoft Corporate Volunteer Match we are able to send a donation for every hour a volunteer spends tutoring directly to the your school. With each sessions two co-volunteers, and two hours spent total spent tutoring, preparing and reflecting this amounts to a sizable grant by over the course of a year.
Have more questions?
The weekly estimated time commitment for a volunteer is 2 hours. This consists of 30 minutes preparing for your tutoring session, 1 hour conducting your tutoring session, and 30 minutes filling out your post-session volunteer reflection.
Volunteers are required to pass a background check prior to beginning tutoring sessions. The background check process depends on the school district, and details will be provided to volunteers by the organizers. There is typically a small fee associated with completing these checks.
There are multiple touch points that aim to teach volunteers the basics of conducting sessions. This includes an introductory call with all volunteers, a training guide that volunteers must review with their co-volunteers, and some further training materials on specific topics.
In the initial sign-up form volunteers will have an option to select what grade levels and subjects they feel comfortable teaching. We will only connect volunteers to sessions matching the areas they’ve indicated.