Who is Step Up Tutoring?

Step Up Tutoring is a California-based nonprofit that drives student success by providing virtual high-impact tutoring and mentorship to elementary and middle school students in under-resourced communities. We recruit, train, and support mission-driven high-value tutors to provide individualized academic support and boost habits of success. By combining an innovative human capital solution with the effective use of technology, we provide a scalable and cost-effective tutoring model that drives meaningful academic gains, builds student confidence, and fosters positive relationships for students and tutors alike. Ultimately, we envision a world where all young people have the support they need to learn, develop, and access their dreams. 

Why Sustainable High-Impact Tutoring?

COVID took a devastating toll on students, particularly those who were already impacted by opportunity gaps. Only 2 in 10 fifth graders from low-income families in Los Angeles meet grade-level standards in math, and math scores for 13 year olds are lower today than they have been in 33 years.*

*based on NAEP data released in June 2023

High-impact tutoring is one of the most promising strategies for post-pandemic learning acceleration. Research has shown that high impact 1-on-1 and small-group tutoring can result in 3-15 months of learning gains, which is among the largest impacts of all educational interventions studied.

Falling behind in math has ripple effects that can impact the academic—and life—trajectory for disadvantaged students. However, most high-impact tutoring models are too costly to implement at scale. Step Up has developed sustainable models for delivering high-impact tutoring at scale, through the effective use of technology and recruitment of high-value tutors.

Who We Serve

Since our founding in 2020, we have supported over 3,000 3rd-6th grade students in 100+ partner schools in Los Angeles and the Bay Area. 90% of students at our partner schools are students of color and qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

Our Tutors

We recruit a diverse corps of tutors, including adult volunteers, college student volunteers, and college students paid through scholarship funds, including Federal Work-Study (FWS) and Californians for All College Corps.

We provide extensive training and support for our tutors throughout their time with Step Up, ensuring they have the tools necessary to effectively help their students. While we ask tutors to serve for a minimum of three months, the average retention for a Step Up tutor is over 10 months.

Step Up’s Impact To Date

100K+

Hours of tutoring delivered

3K+

Students served

100

School partners

6

School districts

10

Months average tutor retention

94%

Parent satisfaction

86%

of teachers “agree” or “strongly agree” that Step Up tutoring positively impacts student academic progress 

4x

A pilot study conducted with 115 students found that students who received the recommended dosage of Step Up’s tutoring program over a three-month period experienced a rate of growth in math scores that was four times as much as those who didn’t receive the full program dosage.

Our Team

Sam Olivieri

  • Sam brings to Step Up more than a decade of experience in leadership roles expanding access to opportunity through education across the PreK-career continuum. Sam was Senior Principal at Guild Education and Partner at Entangled Solutions, where she worked with entrepreneurs to scale impact in education. Prior to Entangled, she was the Chief Strategy Officer for GreatSchools, a national nonprofit that reaches over half of all parents of school-age children in America. Sam started her career as a special education teacher and has worked on school improvement initiatives at the district, state, and national levels. She received her BA from Pomona College and MPP from UCLA. Her passion for education stems from her formative experiences in the classroom, where she learned the power of young people’s ingenuity, talents, and passion.

George Mu

  • George Mu is joining Step Up Tutoring as the Chief Product and Program Officer, with over a decade of experience scaling impact in US K-12 education. He most recently served as the Head of Product Strategy at Curriculum Associates, leading development of the product roadmap for award winning products such as i-Ready, serving over 13 million students across assessment and instructional programs. Prior to joining Curriculum Associates in 2019, George served organizations across for-profit, non-profit, and public sector, including Amplify Education, school systems such as KIPP and LAUSD, and funders such as Gates and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. George received a B.A. from Columbia University and an M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Kara O’Toole

  • Kara O’Toole brings business acumen and operational strength to her role as Step Up Tutoring’s Chief Operating Officer. She holds over 25 years of executive management, operations, customer service, sales, marketing and finance experience in fast-paced companies, including the following education companies: StudyPoint, PrepNow and CollegeVine. Prior to her leadership roles in education, Kara was Chief Operating Officer of Grand Circle Corporation where she was responsible for a $700M international organization of over 2,000 employees worldwide. Kara earned her B.S. degree from Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business. The importance of education was instilled in her by her father, a high school guidance counselor and her sister, a TFA alum and high school English teacher.

Atiya Davis

  • Atiya has over 5 years of experience in education working closely with children from impoverished neighborhoods. As a former Montessori Administrator, she understands the importance of “enriching the whole child” and meeting the students where they are. Atiya holds a B.A. in Psychology from Hunter College. Her passion lies heavily in bridging the gap in educational inequality and ending the stigma on youth mental health for students in underserved communities.

Lisa Elson

  • Lisa brings management and outreach experience from working as a consultant to political campaigns and nonprofit organizations. She is passionate about equity in education and is constantly inspired by volunteers who devote time to help others. Lisa has worked as a tutor/mentor to elementary school students both in person and virtually. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan. Her lifetime love of learning and dedication to helping students was inspired by her Mother, who was a teacher.

Thayer Frechette

  • Thayer believes education is the most important tool in fighting inequities in our communities. He previously worked in customer service at a start-up, and most recently was a mentor at a youth support group. He graduated from Georgetown with a B.A. in government and a minor in Spanish. He’s been a tutor at Step Up since Fall 2021. In the 7th grade he had a Spanish teacher whose support and encouragement pushed him to study abroad and help shape his fondness of Spanish literature.

Daniel Halper

  • In June of 2020, Daniel helped start Step Up Tutoring after reading about the pandemic's enormous impact on students' education and wellbeing. He had both prior experience and a passion for educating children from under-resourced communities so getting involved seemed like an easy decision! His most memorable teacher was his Kindergarten teacher, Mr. Jacobson. He taught Daniel how to tie his shoes and stay seated in a chair without tipping over.

Charmaine Ho

  • Charmaine has over 15 years of account management and client service experience in the advertising and communications industries for global Fortune 500 companies and start-ups. In her employee comms role, she connected an audience of 55,000+ employees to people, activities and information to help build community and inspire excitement for their workplace. She started as a tutor with Step Up Tutoring in the fall of 2020. Charmaine is also a self-proclaimed bibliophagist, so please send all book recommendations her way! She had a high school teacher that always seemed to have an abundance of knowledge and interest in different topics - he taught students the importance of being curious and Charmaine has been asking endless questions ever since!

Alina Lopez

  • Alina brings the experience of working for the largest school district in Nebraska for 13 years. Passionate about youth mentorship and advocate for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging(DEIB). She has worked within the community for over 15 years and has started a grassroots community organizing organization from the ground. Alina is a certified mediator and project manager. Graduate from the University of Nebraska, Omaha with a triple major in Sociology, English, and Criminal Justice, and a minor in Chicano/Latino Studies. When she is not working, Alina loves spending time with her five children traveling to teach them cultural diversity & awareness and watching her son play soccer.

Beth Marmino

  • Beth brings over 10 years of experience in education working in both public and international schools, where she has developed a deep conviction that education should be a right and not a privilege. She holds a History degree from the University of Colorado and a Masters in Teaching from Seattle Pacific University. She took her passion for mentoring others from the classroom to the corporate world when she became a Team Manager at Stitch Fix, working with the retail-tech company from its start-up days to helping launch its international office in London. While she has been blessed with many wonderful teachers along her own education journey, her 9th grade history teacher taught her the importance of understanding how our past shapes our future.

Claire Altman

  • Claire is a recent graduate from the University of Wisconsin - Madison where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in Psychology and Legal Studies. She brings with her years of marketing experience and is passionate about making a meaningful impact on people’s lives around her. She has worked with several non-profits in both Los Angeles and Madison over her high school and college years. She is forever grateful for her two dedicated professors in Madison who co-taught a class on psychology, law, and social policy. They taught her the importance of being involved in your community and mentorship.

Krissy Reyes

  • For Krissy, the joy of learning has never stopped, and she aspires to share that joy with all students. She received a Bachelors in English and Theater from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a Masters in Education from Fordham University. She was an English teacher in New York City for 4 years and has worked in customer education and project management in the edtech industry. Her favorite teacher was Ms. Hunter who made learning fun by performing plays in class and hosting student poetry readings.

Haripriya Valayaputtur

  • Haripriya is deeply committed to fairness and equity in education and believes that collaborating with communities is essential for achieving high-quality education for all. With a strong background in data science and learning sciences, Haripriya has over 7 years of experience in various areas of education - from teaching and instructional design to test development and data analysis. She made a career switch to education from consulting years ago to join an EdTech firm in India and has never looked back. Haripriya holds a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from BITS Pilani University (Goa) and an MSEd in Learning Sciences and Technologies from the University of Pennsylvania. Her love for education stems from her mother, who is a math teacher, and with whom she spent many summers finding creative ways to solve problems in geometry!

Gabriella Schneider

  • Gabriella brings over five years of development experience, having previously run an individual fundraising operation at a prominent think tank based in Washington, DC. With a particular focus on major gift cultivation, Gabriella is passionate about developing genuine relationships with supporters and connecting them with transformative nonprofits that are driving effective change for the causes they care about. Gabriella is thrilled to be raising funds to close the educational achievement gap and create increased opportunity and pathways to success for students. Gabriella holds a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics, Economics, and Law from the University of Richmond. She is grateful to have had many formative teachers in her life, including her high school AP English teacher who (now retired) still hosts their original class for annual dinners around the holidays.

Briana Murray

  • Briana got her degree in Politics of Poverty, Ethnicity, and Gender from Cal Poly SLO, and began her career working on restorative justice practices with incarcerated individuals. Her experience allowed her to see the impact of the school to prison pipeline, and ultimately, lead to her stepping into the classroom as a middle school teacher. After 6 years of teaching and earning her M.Ed in Secondary English Curriculum and Instruction, Briana moved into a new role, coaching 1st and 2nd year teachers across the Los Angeles region. She is excited to take her experiences and relationships from the last 10 years into this position, and is eager to strengthen existing partnerships and build new ones along the way. Her favorite teacher will always be her mother, who retired from education after over 30 years.

Elise Flores

  • With over 10 years of experience in education, Elise believes deeply in equipping students to effect change through critical thinking. She earned her BA in English at Vanderbilt University and her MA in secondary education at Loyola Marymount University and spent nine years teaching English, mostly to sophomores and seniors, at a small private high school in Southern California. She also served as the English department chair, which sparked her enthusiasm for the critical work of supporting educators so they can better serve students. After relocating to Central Texas, where her husband attends law school, Elise continued to engage this passion as a manager at a remote tutoring company that served K-12 students and is excited to continue empowering tutors at Step Up. Elise credits much of her love of education, especially literature, to her tenth and twelfth grade English teacher, who encouraged asking questions, personal growth, and a commitment to social justice.

Erin King

  • Erin has over 15 years of teaching and leadership experience in early childhood education, including recruitment. Erin is committed to ensuring strong partnerships with families, working together to provide the highest quality education for children. She understands the important role relationships play in developing the whole child and supporting their educational journey. Erin is excited to bring her experience to Step Up Tutoring, to support the meaningful work of the organization. She had a high school math teacher who stayed after school to tutor students, demonstrating the power of tutoring and committed educators. She graduated from Central Michigan University with a bachelor’s degree in Child Development and a master’s degree in Human Development and Family Studies. When she is not working, Erin loves traveling with her husband and sitting down with a good book and a latte.

Our Board

Janet Carter
CEO, Coaching Corp

Howard Gordon
President, Teakwood Lane Productions; Emmy Award Winning Television Writer and Producer

Stephanie Graves
President & CEO, Lee Andrews Group; Central City Association, Chair; Vision to Learn, Advisory Board

Jamie Halper
Chair and Co-Founder, Step Up Tutoring; Chair, Blue Owl Opportunistic Fund

Lynn Jacobson
Former Chair of the Board, Teach for America Los Angeles; member of the USC Rossier Board of Councilors

Jake Neuberg
Co-Founder, Revolution Prep; Chairman, Discovery Education

Nati Rodriguez
Program Director, Annenberg Learner; Co-Founder, Step Up Tutoring

Deborah Stipek
Stanford University Professor & Former Dean of Stanford Graduate School of Education

Alison Yoshimoto-Towery
Executive Director, UC/CSU California Collaborative for Neuroscience, Diversity and Learning; member of the California State Board of Education; former Chief Academic Officer, Los Angeles Unified School District