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Factors Influencing Numbers
There are many factors that have an impact on optimal numbers: the
availability of volunteers, the recruitment of students, the travel
distances in rural programs, the number of special needs students in
any program, whether pairs meet on site or away from the program, how
often students are re-assessed, the level and type of support provided
to tutors, and so on. However, it seems reasonable to suggest that a
one-to-one correspondence of hours worked to pairs supported might
provide a reasonable baseline for literacy coordinators.
Prospects Optimal Numbers
Applying this guideline to our own program, we estimate that our
core funding enables us to pay staff to work about 70 hours a week.
Our optimal range of pairs at any given time, therefore, might be
60-80, while we might aim to provide high quality service to 90-120
pairs over one year. These numbers include up to 20% of students with
developmental disabilities. Since we far exceeded these numbers in
each of the three years examined, we might certainly ask ourselves
whether we are trying to do too much with too few resources. |
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Factors Influencing Optimal Numbers
· availability of volunteers
· recruitment of students
· travel distances in rural programs
· number and range of special-needs students
· pairs meeting on-site or away from the program
· frequency of student re-assessment
· the degree and type of support provided to tutors and
students
· paid staff turnover |
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Undoubtedly, the funding received for projects also serves to
support the core program, in that it enables us to retain more staff
to share the workload, and thus to support more tutoring pairs.
However, keeping in mind all of the volunteer hours contributed by
staff it may be that we have simply tried to accommodate more working
pairs than we can realistically support. This is an area we need to
think about more carefully as we set our goals for the coming years.
Working with a Board of Directors
As more literacy programs begin to consider board governance or to
go through the process of acquiring society and charitable
organization status, co-ordinators need to carefully consider both the
costs and the benefits to the program.
The Benefits
Certainly, the benefits include opportunities to fund-raise in a
more substantial way by building a donor base, by applying to
foundations for project funding and so on. Board governed |
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| It seems reasonable to suggest that a one-to-one correspondence
of hours worked to pairs supported might provide a reasonable
baseline for literacy coordinators |
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