By Jennifer Kiilerich and Krystal Schmidt
On a rainy November afternoon in a North Nashville classroom, students who once struggled in math periodically shouted out “zearned it,” receiving stickers or candy from their teacher as they hit milestones in the math program of the same name.
The 20 or so middle-schoolers were working in one-on-one pairings with Vanderbilt student tutors during a learning session aligned with their curriculum. “We want them all to hit grade-level standards,” said Sherrilyn D. Dovi, a seventh- and eighth-grade math teacher at John Early Museum Magnet Middle School.
As the session wrapped up, the middle-schoolers hung around, joking with their tutors and high-fiving Dovi. “They look forward to seeing their tutors every week,” Dovi said.
This scene is part of a collaboration, now in its second year, between Metro Nashville Public Schools and John Early with Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development. Established as a Vanderbilt model school, the program is designed to enhance STEM education and improve student pathways for John Early students, who matriculate to Hume Fogg Academic Magnet High School or Pearl-Cohn High School. By leveraging the resources of Vanderbilt, MNPS, and the John Early staff and school community, the program provides intensive student tutoring, on-site educator training, and professional development and team building.
Vanderbilt student tutors, who span from undergraduates to Ph.D. candidates in the Peabody Department of Teaching and Learning, are central to the collaboration. They gain experience that’s deeply relevant to their future work, while making a tangible impact on their community and building connections with tutees.
The model stands out for its commitment to consistency and direct support. “The most pivotal change for our kids is the one-to-one learning,” said Dovi. “They have the same tutor every week, and they build a rapport.”
Hear from three Vanderbilt Peabody tutors, in their own words:
Three courses offered through the Department of Teaching and Learning—totaling nearly 70 university students—currently meet onsite every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. As part of the coursework and in partnership with John Early faculty, Vanderbilt students assist science classes and support weekly tutoring sessions in mathematics and literacy. Additional Vanderbilt students serve as volunteer tutors or tutor to meet course requirements. Plus, Peabody faculty team up with John Early faculty for professional development.
LaToya Anderson, senior lecturer of teaching and learning and Peabody’s director of field immersion, is on the steering committee for the project. Her class, “Developing the Skills and Mindset to Support Scholar Learning as Tutor-Mentors,” tutors at John Early each Wednesday.
“With this program, we wanted to take the tutoring approach in a different direction than other schools in the district,” she said. “It was really important for whoever was going to be there for tutoring, to be there consistently.”
The consistency has paid off: By the end of the 2024 academic year, John Early reported the highest growth in the district for math and reading scores, respectively 22 percent and 19 percent. The team is working toward additional benchmarks and hoping to see continued growth.
“ It’s a low-pressure environment where you get to really fall in love with teaching.” – Duncan Steeples
The experience is both solidifying and foundational for Vanderbilt students, whether they are considering a career in education or earning an advanced degree in the field. “For a lot of the Peabody students participating,” said Duncan Steeples, a master’s student who tutors math, “this comes before student teaching. This is before practicum. This is their first experience getting into a school and interacting with students. It’s a low-pressure environment where you get to really fall in love with teaching. Because that’s what I did, I fell in love with it when I was doing tutoring my sophomore year of undergrad.”
Ahead, meet a few of the Vanderbilt Peabody scholars who are working alongside John Early and MNPS to build collaboration and community at John Early:
STEPHANIE BUSTOS, UNDERGRADUATE, SECONDARY EDUCATION AND BIOLOGY
How will tutoring support your career goals?
We take our experiences in tutoring, and we take our experiences in observations, and we talk about how we can relate it to our academic course, how we can relate it to the readings that we read—what we want to change in some cases, or what we want to explore more. Like if we really like something that a teacher did, or we really like Zearn, and how we might want to bring those things to our class in the future.
What is your favorite thing about this experience?
My favorite part of tutoring was really getting to know my student. I feel like that’s a really big part of wanting to be a teacher in general, but this just really solidified that for me. I’m so happy that I could be that person when he was having a bad day. And I’m so happy that I could help him learn in a new way. That was such an enriching experience for me, and I really hope that has an impact on him.
CHELSEA FAITH MARIANO, SECONDARY EDUCATION MASTER’S STUDENT
How will tutoring support your career goals?
My goal is to be a middle school science teacher, so this experience with tutoring math has been really insightful and interesting. I get to learn how students have those building blocks for solving problems and for noticing patterns. And also just getting to be around the kids and see them figure things out, I think that is going to give me some insight into how I want to teach.
What is your favorite thing about this experience?
There are moments when the math sort of clicks with them, and that’s rewarding. But it’s also just the little parts. I like showing them that I’m not judging them for what they know or don’t know, and I want them to be able to trust me to be there for them.
I’ve really bonded with a couple kids, and I’ve done little drawings for them. I drew Sonic for one kid, and Spiderman for another kid, and they seemed to really like those. It’s just a way to connect with them. So, I guess my favorite part is connecting with the kids.
DUNCAN STEEPLES, BS’24, SECONDARY EDUCATION MASTER’S STUDENT
How does Peabody support your career goals?
Peabody’s given me three different placements in middle schools and high schools around Nashville. I’ve had a private school and then two public schools, both in Nashville—one in North Nashville and one in South Nashville. I’ve been able to see a really diverse community of learners and people all around the city.
What is your favorite thing about this experience?
My favorite part about tutoring is definitely working with my tutee. She’s so much fun, she is a bundle of energy. It’s wonderful working with someone that’s so bright and talented, and that has this joy for life that lights up the room.
Vanderbilt Peabody College’s top-ranked Department of Teaching and Learning is committed to understanding the most effective teaching tools in science, math and language arts. Faculty spend as much time in the classrooms and hallways of Nashville’s public schools as they do in the seminar rooms of the college, opening doors for undergraduate and master’s students to experience impactful, hands-on learning such as the John Early School collaboration.
