Long before the first bell rings, teachers know which students will need a little extra. Some stay late, some come in early, and some let’s be honest, just slip through the cracks because there’s not enough time or hands to catch them.
That’s why what’s happening at Carnegie Mellon deserves a closer look.
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This spring, a group of CMU students isn’t just studying theory, they’re logging onto laptops, volunteering their time to tutor high schoolers for free through Schoolhouse.world, a nonprofit started by Sal Khan of Khan Academy fame. And they’re not doing it just out of charity. They’re earning college credit while they do it.
The course that anchors it all? “Tutoring, Teaching and Leading Through Education.” Once a face-to-face effort at Pittsburgh schools, it pivoted post-pandemic into something far more scalable, virtual tutoring rooms where help comes from someone just a few years ahead of you, not decades.
And here’s where it gets smart: these aren’t one-off sessions. The platform allows students to build a tutoring “portfolio”, certifications, volunteer hours, subject strengths and CMU now says they’ll consider those portfolios in their admissions process. Translation? Helping others learn might help you get into college, too.
Mimi Wertheimer, who oversees the program at CMU, nailed the heart of it: “Nothing will ever fully replace in-person tutoring but this creates access we didn’t have before.” She’s right. Rural schools, under-resourced districts, and homebound students all benefit when we rethink where learning can happen.
Sal Khan himself announced the partnership during CMU’s commencement, making the kind of speech that reminds you some solutions don’t come from policy, they come from people.
So here’s to the college students who are turning their knowledge into someone else’s confidence. It’s the kind of peer-powered, equity-minded work that doesn’t just fill learning gaps, it builds a bridge.
