Some volunteers say they think that more PBHA-related training could be helpful to students.

"There needs to be classroom-specific programs and it'd be nice to have more PBHA-funded training," says Myung H. Joh '02, a board member of the Dorchester-based Mather School Tutoring program.

This year, PBHA is making use of a new teacher training budget. PBHA staff members are working to develop and run more teacher training sessions, identify outside resources for groups and work individually with each group to develop their programming.

"One of the things we are looking at is to have more teacher training sessions this year than last year, especially for afterschool and adult education training programs," says Kerry J. McGowan, a director of programs at PBHA.

While most PBHA programs run after regular school hours, some students actually become part of the curriculum.

CIVICS is a PBHA program that places volunteers in a classroom during the school day and brings student teachers to classrooms across Cambridge and Boston to introduce middle schoolers to government.

"We have two training sessions, usually with one conducted by a professional teacher," says Alexis J. Loeb '02, the outgoing CIVICS chair. "In addition, there's a system of support through weekly group meetings and an experienced steering committee."

John D. Strucker, a research associate and lecturer on teacher education and certification at the GSE, says he has reservations about students using class time for volunteer programs.