Welcome!
New & returning tutors, please apply and create your account here.
If you have already created an account for Spring '25 and need to update your information, you can do so here.
BTC Program Information
Brown University’s K-12 Tutoring Initiative mobilizes Brown students to provide free tutoring to students in participating Rhode Island schools.
Rhode Island students that are interested in connecting remotely with Brown student tutors can also connect through the Tutor Matching Service, a nationally recognized tutoring platform that matches university and college students with students who need tutoring support for remote tutoring.
The COVID-19 pandemic has widened existing educational inequities, impacting students in significant ways. With students learning remotely or in hybrid formats, there is a heightened need for one-on-one instruction around specific topics or curriculum areas, but teachers’ resources are stretched thin. One-on-one tutoring is a powerful educational intervention that can support students’ academic, social and emotional needs. However, this resource is often available only to families who can afford to pay for it. We hope to provide support to students and act as another resource to school districts through this tutoring initiative.
The Brown Tutoring Corps (BTC) is a collaboration between the Annenberg Institute and the Swearer Center for Public Service.
The BTC matches Brown University students with local K-12 schools, other elementary and secondary programming, and community centers to support youth to make academic gains, develop mindsets and skills that contribute to success in college, and build relationships with Brown University.
The Annenberg Institute’s core mission is to equalize and improve educational opportunities, while the Swearer Center’s primary goal is to make experiential learning central to a Brown student’s education. Fulfilling the goals of both entities, our program provides an impactful resource to students in the Providence community, and also gives Brown students an opportunity for meaningful public service.
To learn more about our program, please email annenberg@brown.edu.
Why tutoring?
- Targets students’ needs
- Builds relationships
- College knowledge, readiness
- Teacher pipeline benefits
“Seven meta-analyses including over 150 studies consistently find that intensive, relationship-based, individualized instruction – or high-impact tutoring – results in substantial additional learning for students.”
- National Student Support Accelerator
What is high-impact tutoring?
Intensive, relationship-based, individualized instruction
- Embedded in school
- Data drives instruction
- High-quality materials / 3+ sessions per week / up to 3:1 student to tutor ratio
- Consistent, well-supported tutor
- Grounded in equity and culturally responsive practices
Outcomes - student perspective
“I remember meeting Jeff as a freshman (he was a sophomore then, now he’s a senior at Brown). I’m a junior now.
I didn’t do sports or was involved in the community. I was struggling with geometry, so I came to [tutoring] because it was a safe space for me. I found Jeff, and he said he was there to help with anything.
I was worried, comparing myself to other students, trying to be better, feeling some healthy competition. I always knew I’d have someone to help me if I went to [tutoring], someone fresh to talk to. Not my age, but not someone paying bills and super old either.
It felt like a reassurance that this might be my future, that if I worked hard enough I could be like him, I could be as smart as him.
Working with Jeff has made me feel seen, and has let me open up to new things.”
-Victoria V, PPSD Student