Free tutoring aimed at aiding Rainbow Dreams Academy
Rainbow Dreams Academy has a challenging road ahead.
The Clark County School District-sponsored charter school, in the Historic Westside, was placed on a remediation plan by the School Board because of the academic struggles of its one-star elementary school and two-star middle school.
But an initiative offering students free tutoring after school hours may help the school turn the corner.
Rainbow Dreams, at 950 W. Lake Mead Blvd. in Las Vegas, is one of four schools that receive tutoring through the Global Charity Foundation, a nonprofit founded by physician Reeta Thukral 12 years ago. Its mission: to provide education and health care for underprivileged women and children in Las Vegas.
Its Community Education Program is aimed at tutoring at-risk students in elementary and middle school, offering targeted small-group sessions for students struggling in various key subjects. The foundation pays for the tutors at a rate of $365 per student per year.
The program also offers tutoring for students at Kelly Elementary and Wendell Williams Elementary in Las Vegas and Delta Academy in North Las Vegas.
It’s the fourth year that the program has been at Rainbow Dreams, although it started summer tutoring in 2012 and expanded to year-around tutoring in 2013.
For Thukral, education is a way of life.
“It should be the way of life for everybody,” she said. “It gives you everything you ever need or want.”
At Rainbow Dreams, the tutoring program works with dozens of children who are scattered in different rooms each week after school. Some are reviewing long-division math problems. Others are learning how to read the hands of a clock.
School Chancellor King Duncan said the small groups help students build confidence.
And the program has made improvements in the students, according to Thukral. Across the board, students have improved one to 1.5 grade levels in reading and math, she said.
The foundation accepts donations to support its education program and other initiatives at gcfcares.org.
Contact Amelia Pak-Harvey at apak-harvey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4630. Follow @AmeliaPakHarvey on Twitter.
