NSTEP created the ultimate collaborative, free program - Study Buddy: Online Math Homework Help - where struggling students connect with their math honor student peers to receive instant help. Our mission is to improve middle and high school student success in STEM disciplines so that our children are ready to meet the technological and scientific challenges of the 21st century. We specifically focus on serving low income, minority students whose math achievement scores persistently and alarmingly lag behind their white or more moderate-income peers. It’s our strong belief that in an era when information flows freely and instantaneously across the globe that geography, scheduling conflicts or economics need no longer stand in the way of possible academic success.

Everyone has heard news stories which tell us that U.S. students are falling behind the rest of the developed world when it comes to math and science. Whereas once we led the charge, we're now straggling in. Particularly disturbing is the achievement gap between low-income, minority students and their more affluent white peers. To address this problem, there have been studies conducted, curriculums changed, teacher's enriched, and much discussion. However, these big picture changes will take years to implement, take hold and improve student achievement. Meanwhile, kids need our help TODAY. Study Buddy gives them that opportunity.

Picture Alexis, a minority freshman at an inner-city school. She sits through her algebra class, and kind of gets how to do the problems. After school, she heads home to watch her younger siblings while her mom is still at work. She makes dinner, feeds the kids, and talks to her friends. Any math homework? Well, yes, but now that Alexis looks at it, she can't figure it out. Without anyone to turn to for help, she pushes it aside. Another day goes by without doing and understanding, and she gets further and further behind in math.

Study Buddy offers free, online, LIVE tutoring after school. By collaborating with school districts and individual schools, students and teachers learn and begin to use Study Buddy. Tapping into a largely unused population, our volunteer tutors are recruited from their honor societies, and receive community service credit for their time. This original approach enables the “tutees” to feel more comfortable because they know that the person on the other side of the computer is a student just like themselves. Because our tutors have recently taken the subject, they are also able to provide explanations in ways their peers understand. Tutors build their own skills by analyzing mathematics problems, crafting solutions, and communicating that information to peers, gaining additional insights into mathematics, since there’s no better way to truly learn a subject, than to teach it. Moreover, these honor students gain a valuable life skill by helping disadvantaged students, as well as providing a meaningful community service.

With access to Study Buddy, Alexis can get help RIGHT NOW on exactly the problem she is working on. In a dynamic, collaborative way, she personally interacts with another high school student who guides her through her homework, leading her to understanding. The next day in school, Alexis, is prepared and ready to learn new material.

While there are other online tutoring services, most of these are for-profit organizations. We are specifically seeking to serve those students who not only cannot afford tutoring, but are the least likely to seek it out. We are giving these students the opportunity to succeed by providing Study Buddy as an option. In addition, as far as we know, NSTEP is the only organization who has successfully implemented volunteer peer tutoring. Students are helping students - a win-win all around.