St. Paul Public Schools offers extra, online tutoring to students

After more than two years of learning during the pandemic, many students are still behind.

As a result, St. Paul Public Schools has started offering TutorMe — an online, on-demand tutoring service — to its 33,000 students across the district.

Students can log on and choose from more than 300 subjects for help. Live tutors are standing by 24 hours a day. The service is free for SPPS students.

"Some students are logging on at 8:30 or 9 at night. We know our students need help in real-time and this is a great solution for that," said Darren Ginther, with St. Paul Public Schools.

The district has been tracking who needs help and at what times of the day. So far, most students are in middle school or high school. Some of them have returned to the site seven or eight times to get help.

The service isn’t meant to be a replacement for in-person help but, rather, a resource to enhance it.

"We know teachers can’t be available 24/7 for students," Ginther said.

"Beyond classroom time and office hours, they have a live human being in front of them and we can get them back on track as best we can," he said.

So far, more than 1,000 SPPS students have used TutorMe.