The Houston Independent School District is on the lookout for math tutors -- almost 300 of them.

The Apollo 20 Math Fellowship is a tutoring program for nine middle and high schools in the district that are part of the bigger Apollo 20 school improvement program the district will begin in the 2010-11 school year.

According to press releases and various social media tools, Houston ISD is looking for 270 recent college graduates to tutor students during the school day; the Houston district will pay the tutors $20,000 a year plus benefits. The positions also include opportunities for "performance and attendance based bonuses of up to $5,000."

On its website, the Houston Independent School District compares the fellowships to Teach for America, a teacher recruiting program to bring teachers to urban districts nationwide:

"The program is similar to Teach For America in that we seek people who were outstanding college students and who have a passion for helping the neediest children succeed and thrive. The program is different in that the commitment is only one year, not two, and the work emphasizes depth (working closely with a few students) rather than breadth (teaching several sections of 20 or more students)."

HISD trustees approved a new contract with Teach for America earlier this month, adding more than 200 Teach for America positions to the Houston district.

The Apollo 20 program includes 20 high schools, middle schools and elementary schools that HISD has identified as under-performing. Part of Apollo could also include paying students to attend tutoring sessions.

Lee, Kashmere, Sharpstown and Jones high schools, and Fondren, Key, Ryan, Attucks and Dowling middle schools will be included in the Apollo plan for the 2010-11 school year. According to Superintendent Terry Grier, 11 to-be-determined HISD elementary schools will be added sometime before the 2011-12 school year begins.

Contact Lynn Walsh at 713-228-2850 or lynn@texaswatchdog.org. Lynn writes about the Houston Independent School District. Find all her reports on Twitter by following @texaswatchdog within #HISD.

Photo of fractals by flickr user Barabeke, used via a Creative Commons license.