Katherine Bassett, CEO, New Jersey Tutoring Corps: Training the Next Generation of Educators
The Big Idea:
● Katherine Bassett is a lifelong educator, innovator, and advocate who leads New Jersey Tutoring Corps, a nonprofit that, to date, has provided tutoring for more than 11,000 students across 19 counties in New Jersey, but at the same time, helps its 400 paid tutors, site coordinators, and instructional coaches build career pathways in education.
● In partnership with New Jersey City University, tutors earn academic credits toward becoming certified teachers when they work with local schools and students. The program is one of the first tutoring programs in the nation to receive Department of Labor designation as a registered apprenticeship pathway.
Background:
● A 2022 report by New Jersey Policy Perspective found that New Jersey’s colleges and universities produce far fewer teachers per 1,000 students than the rest of the nation. Teacher shortages are bad for students, limiting individualized attention, increasing instructional disruptions, and leading to missed learning opportunities.
● Katherine is stepping up to address that problem in the near and long term – helping to address immediate needs with extensively trained tutors, site coordinators, and instructional coaches and providing those on-site staff with a pathway to become certified teachers. The Tutoring Corps has served more than 11,000 students in grades K-8 since beginning in 2021.
● New Jersey Tutoring Corps tutors lead sessions with small groups of tutor-to-student ratios of 1:1 up to 1:3 two to three times a week. The apprenticeship component is key – allowing tutors the opportunity to combine normal teacher training with real-world classroom experience.
● Katherine spent 26 years in the classroom as a middle school librarian followed by leading work to advance the profession at ETS and Pearson. She then led the National Network of State Teachers of the Year and is the 1999-2000 New Jersey State Teacher of the Year.
Fun Fact:
The percentage of students in the tutoring program performing at or above grade level in math increased from 16% to 40% from 2022 to 2023 – a huge achievement!
Their Take:
Katherine Bassett
“With an all-hands-on-deck approach and with great urgency and passion, the New Jersey Tutoring Corps has created a tutoring and training infrastructure that is simply unprecedented.”
