Due to the highly-respected nature of the LVCA organization and its tutors in Virginia, we have been asked to participate in a multi-state study to develop and validate a survey questionnaire designed to collect experiential data from volunteers who provide one-on-one literacy instruction. Robert (Bob) Craig (pictured right), a Ph.D. candidate at Virginia Commonwealth University is conducting his dissertation project on tutor perceptions in volunteer literacy programs. Bob is no stranger to adult literacy-- he has served as a volunteer one-on-one adult literacy tutor and a GED® math instructor.
Community-Based Literacy Organizations such as LVCA struggle to gain insights about how well their tutor programs are recruiting, training, and retaining their volunteer tutors. Currently, most of the existing tools used to assess the perceptions of volunteers are broadly applicable to any organization and are not specifically designed for one-on-one adult literacy tutors. Executive Director Ellen Osborne encountered the same problem when conducting research for her Master’s program several years ago and said, “I’m so glad Bob is taking up this research. Bob’s expertise will move us closer to having a reliable way to obtain actionable feedback from our tutors about the quality of our volunteer tutoring programs.”
A select group of LVCA volunteer tutors will be invited to participate in Mr. Craig’s study via a questionnaire and we look forward to sharing updates with you.
