MADISON, Wis. -- Monday mornings might not have always been Monty Schmidt's favorite, but for the last year, the CEO and founder of Madison-based Sonic Foundry has had a renewed reason to wake up and get the work week started.

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This is mostly because it doesn't start at work.

Years after graduation, he's hearing the ring of the school bell at Sherman Middle School on Madison's north side.

"I've had an effect on a number of the kids' math scores," said Schmidt, 44, whose background is in computer software design. "I know they're doing better because they tell me they're doing better."

He said that he isn't happy to take the credit, which is something that almost has to be pulled out of him. But the five students who he tutors weekly in math as part of the "Schools of Hope" tutoring program sing his praises when he's out of the room.

"Monty's awesome," said seventh-grader Henrietta Allison.

"They know that when he comes in on Monday, he's going to be asking, 'Did you do your homework? What are you missing?'" said teacher Chrissy Mitlyng. "They expect that, and I think that's a really good relationship to have."

Teachers report that students who work with the tutors are more confident after their sessions, and are more likely to speak up in class and participate in group work. While classroom confidence might be the most notable impact, it trickles down to fill the racial achievement gap the program was designed to help close, WISC-TV reported.

In 1995, 28.5 percent of black students in the Madison Metropolitan School District tested below the minimal standard on the third grade reading test, along with 9.7 percent of Latino students, 24.2 percent of Asian students and 4.1 percent of white students.

After a civic journalism project launched by WISC-TV and the Wisconsin State Journal examining what was working and what wasn't in Madison's schools, the United Way of Dane County stepped in to help create what became Schools of Hope.

By 2005, the numbers looked vastly different. Only 5.5 percent of African-American students weren't meeting the minimal reading standard, less than 1 percent of Latino students, and just 1 percent of Asian students. Less than 1 percent of white students are still below the standard as well, officials said.

"When you have a one-on-one interaction in anything when you're teaching something, you're going to have more of an effect than when it's a classroom of 15 or 20 kids," said Schmidt.

A passionate advocate of the Schools of Hope tutoring initiative, he's multiplying his one-on-one teaching impact by giving his employees paid time off if they tutor.

"This is the kind of thing that you can go back to the office and talk to other people that are doing it about it, and there's an excitement and a team-building part of that you just get," said Schmidt. "I think that makes people feel good about what they do and where they work. So there is a tangible benefit for the company beyond the fact that I think it's just the right thing to do."

Madison's Douglas Stewart Co. is doing the same. CEO Cheryl Rosen Weston said that she saw the need for her company to help because tutors are needed during the school day when so few professionals are able to volunteer.

"One of my goals for this company, which has been part of the community since 1950, is to try and run it in a way that it can continue to stay in Madison," said Rosen Weston. "And part of that is making sure that Madison attracts and retains good employees. The way to do that is making sure the children who are attending school in Madison are getting a good education."

Rosen Weston said she is also encouraged by the energy the experience is giving the 20 or so staffers who spend time tutoring students, adding that the benefits far outweigh the costs.

"You don't measure everything in dollars and cents," she said.

Katiana Aguado is one such employee who devotes her time at nearby La Follette High School tutoring a student who is learning English as his second language. This is a struggle that Aguado said she knows well as she too faced it as a child.

"You can tell that he was very relieved to have somebody with his similar background, and be able to understand where he's coming from," said Aguado. "When I first got introduced to him, I said 'Hi' in English. And as soon as I asked him 'Where are you from?' in Spanish, his face lit up."

The program's founders had hope the program would succeed as it has as evidenced right down to its name, but there's ambition that "Schools of Success" might one day be a more fitting moniker.

"We're both getting something," said Aguado. "It's more than teaching them to succeed in a particular subject. It's how to succeed in life in general and serving as a role model."