AIS at Stuyvesant: Interventions Made, Interventions Needed?

Among the variety of academic resources Stuyvesant makes available to its student body, Academic Intervention Services (AIS) is one of the most popular. The subject-specific, after-school sessions led by Stuyvesant teachers give students a comfortable place to ask questions, review for upcoming exams, or study class content with the help of teachers. These sessions are typically held the day prior to the testing day for their respective subject, making them perfect for a last-minute review or a comprehensive overview of a unit.

Sophomore Junling Gao explained her struggles in Global Studies upon entering the school. “I got a 70 on my first quiz. I thought I would do better next time, but I got a lower score on the next assessment. I eventually failed the test. I heard AIS from others, so I went there ask for help. I learned how to study for Global. That helped me get higher test grades. The only thing I want to say is we should not be afraid of going AIS. AIS can help us a lot,” she stated.

Similarly, teachers can find teaching after-school during AIS highly rewarding despite the extra efforts they need to make. “I’ve had a really good time making sure anyone who attends my AIS is able to get something out of it and learn something from it. It brings me a sense of personal fulfillment when someone walks into my room and walks away with something they can use,” Honors Chemistry teacher Douglas Zhu stated.

Zhu, a Stuyvesant graduate, finds that hosting AIS has helped him feel more connected to his students. “One of the students who regularly attends AIS […] has Dr. Kivi as his teacher and I had Dr. Kivi when I was a sophomore first term at Stuyvesant so him coming to me with questions that are very similar to questions that I used to get asked, that brought me way back, brought a smile to my face. Dr. Kivi is still here doing his thing, so that’s the anecdote that I have to share; the fact that I’m doing AIS tutoring for a student that had the same teacher,” Zhu shared.

However, in recent years, budget cuts have been devastating to AIS, reducing the amount of available sessions. “They might be prioritizing AIS for Regents courses and as a result, some of the electives need to suffer,” Zhu stated. “Which is a shame, you know. I think electives should get the same amount of attention as Regents courses. I think every course is important in its own right. It contributes to the diversity and fulfillment of students,” he continued. This trade-off is present because limited resources force the school to make tough decisions on which AIS sessions to keep and which to replace.

In an email interview, Assistant Principal of Organization Dr. Gary Haber explained some of the challenges when organizing AIS sessions for the school: “We review teacher availability, demand from Students/Parents/Guardians, the expected academic need (for AIS Services) by Assistant Principals of Supervision, the Counseling Team, and Administration, to determine and match the needs to the available budget. Expenses have gone up while the available budget has either stayed static or decreased.”

He added that, as a result, the school must prioritize where to allocate its limited budget. The higher demand for specific subjects, as well as core subjects such as English and math, has been reflected by the changes to the AIS schedule. Meeting graduation requirements is the priority.  

The introduction of peer tutoring to the official AIS schedule aims to continue providing academic assistance amid the financial challenges. These peer tutoring sessions are similar to typical AIS sessions, but operate without a designated teacher. Peer tutoring gives students an opportunity to help each other. While this is a solution to the decrease in AIS sessions, for some students, it still does not offer the same experience AIS does. “This year feels a bit more empty for me […] I think the introduction of peer tutoring is something that has never happened in the previous year. Peer tutoring is not bad, I just feel like not every student gets attention. It’s like the same thing but maybe a little less sufficient,” sophomore Wenni Lu stated. 

A club, American Chemical Society (ACS), has recently been added to the schedule as a new official peer tutoring group for AIS. Originally created as a community for people with an interest in chemistry, it has shifted its focus to tutoring, particularly in response to the previous lack of chemistry AIS. “It was just like, oh, here’s a fun lab or here’s a very fun Kahoot competition thing that you can win for prize money,” senior and ACS Co-President Christian Kim said. “It was originally created for general interest […] I think more recently, we’ve added the additional goal of specializing in tutoring.”

ACS turned into a space for students taking AP Chemistry to study and help each other thrive in the rigorous course. While those who run ACS are student volunteers, they do not receive volunteer hours or any other compensation for their efforts. “In my junior year and current senior year, we’ve transitioned into just providing AP Chem resources and tutoring for underclassmen and also upperclassmen who are taking AP Chemistry,”  senior and ACS Co-President Judy Namkoong said. “Currently, we’re trying to expand the members in our club and connect with the Chemistry Department at Stuy so we can provide more resources to more people.” 

“ACS is pretty connected to the Chem Department with our recent push-ins to promote the club,” Kim said. “[We’ve also been] communicating with Mr. Thomas, the AP [Assistant Principal] of Chemistry, and in previous years, we collaborated a lot with Dr. Kivi for club promotions and special events,” Kim elaborated. With the help of the Chemistry Department, the club ran lab demonstrations for the open house last year.

Another prominent change is the emphasis placed on language AIS this year. The schedule currently reflects multiple sections separated by level for each language. For example, Spanish I and II, and Spanish III and AP Spanish now have their own sessions, led by different teachers. “I noticed that this year they focused more on language,” Lu stated. 

One issue that students raised concerns about was the AIS schedule itself: multiple AIS sessions had wrong dates, levels, or teachers. “I was confused about when Mandarin AIS tutoring was because the schedule seemed inaccurate. I had gotten different information from my teacher and the official AIS schedule, so I wasn’t sure which was accurate,” sophomore Olive Carney explained.

Sophomore Ronghe Guo shares his story as well. “I saved a picture of the AIS schedule from a teacher, which included the times for each class, and a few weeks later when I wanted to visit a chemistry AIS session, I had the wrong date and time saved and I spent a good half hour asking any faculty member I could find around the ninth floor for any clues at all, and ultimately was told that it wasn’t that day.”

Due to the scarcity of time and money, the AIS system has suffered in several ways. While peer tutoring offers an alternative to the absence of some subject-specific AIS sessions, it may lack the experience and dedication that teachers can provide. Additionally, the AIS schedule itself has some inconsistencies. Despite these obstacles, the efforts of both the teachers and the students participating in AIS have made it a dependable resource for all. It has repeatedly adapted to the changing academic needs of students, even if it means constant restructuring. Although the school has struggled to maintain their AIS sections, the ever-evolving schedule highlights the determination of the Stuyvesant community in upholding a strong academic support system.