GO Launches in DC With Strong Local Support

January 4, 2023

With the backing of the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) and the education reformers atCityBridge, the GO Foundation will bring its high dosage tutors/mentors (pictured here) to Washington, DC.

GO is in the process of finalizing a partnership with the Center City Public Charter School network, which operates six schools in the District. Under the terms of that partnership, GO will recruit, train and then support a cadre of AmeriCorps members who will provide a year of service tutoring and mentoring the elementary school students at Center City’s schools.

Perhaps no other public school district in the country has done as much as Washington DC to act on the mounting evidence regarding the efficacy of tutoring and encourage an ecosystem to support its development. In October the well-regarded think tank, the DC Policy Center, issued a report that said,

Following years of improvement in learning outcomes in D.C., COVID-19 and a year of virtual learning had negative impacts on student achievement and well being. High-impact tutoring emerged as one strategy to accelerate learning in D.C. and across the country. This type of tutoring aligns with research-backed guidelines and is concentrated, consistent, and stresses the importance of building strong tutor-student relationships.

When that report was released, the DC Policy Center held a symposium that featured both Cat Peretti, the Executive Director of CityBridge’stutoring initiative, known as CityTutor and Russ Williams, the President of and CEO of Center City Public Charter Schools. GO’s planning for DC has been guided by the advice and counsel provided by both.

Cat and Russ have cautioned that recent DC tutoring initiatives have faltered because they have been unable to recruit enough tutors, a challenge that GO itself has faced. The GO Foundation leadership believes that its DC recruitment efforts have a fighting chance of success for two reasons: (1) the pool of young people that GO recruits from around the country are likely to be drawn to serve in a vibrant city like DC, and (2) GO will provide housing to its tutor/mentors as a part of their year of service in AmeriCorps.

If you or someone you know wants to provide a year of service to help a student realize their full human potential in DC or at any of our other partner schools, apply to the GO AmeriCorps Fellowship program.