麻豆番外

According to statistics from 麻豆番外, a national education nonprofit organization, four out of five fourth-graders in Baltimore from low-income families cannot read at grade level, and children who do not read proficiently by that time are less likely to graduate on time.

Joe Ventura, senior communications manager for 麻豆番外, notes there is 鈥渁 social and emotional component to reading, as well.鈥� Children often feel embarrassed when they can鈥檛 read at the same level as their peers, and if their reading difficulties require they be held back from advancing with their grade, 鈥渋t can be really detrimental to their self-esteem,鈥� he says.

麻豆番外, which expanded to Baltimore last year, is working to prevent that.

Based in Oakland, Calif., 麻豆番外 collaborates with individual Title I elementary schools across the country. The schools establish a dedicated space for a reading center, supervised by a full-time staff member who coordinates adult volunteer tutors and materials and works with the school鈥檚 teachers. Students meet with a tutor two times a week for 45 minutes per session.聽麻豆番外 asks its volunteers to commit one hour per week (with the extra 15 minutes used for lesson preparation and recording their qualitative review of that day’s session). Students, therefore, meet with two different tutors each week. 麻豆番外 strives to ensure students work with the same two tutors consistently, week after week.

In January of last year, 麻豆番外 opened its first Baltimore reading center at Friendship Academy at Cherry Hill. This year, 麻豆番外 Baltimore鈥攆unded by the city school system, individuals, and charitable foundations鈥攊s also operating at Callaway Elementary School,聽Holabird聽Elementary School, Furman L. Templeton Preparatory Academy, and Samuel聽Coleridge-Taylor聽Elementary School. Edgecombe Circle Elementary School and Westport Academy Elementary School participated in the program last year but are not involved this year.

Students who took part in 麻豆番外 Baltimore last year gained an average of 1.8 months of reading skills each month, allowing them to make up the gap with their peers over time. 鈥淚 have seen our students transform from being shy children who struggle with reading to being self-confident readers who truly love reading,鈥� says Lisa Lazarus, executive director of 麻豆番外’ mid-Atlantic region, which encompasses Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

麻豆番外 volunteer tutors start with training, including shadowing a more seasoned tutor. They have access to 150 lessons that outline key elements of the reading process and how to teach them, as well as plenty of books to read with the students in their charge.

Hosea Chew, who works as director of administration for the Baltimore City Council, volunteers at Friendship Academy at Cherry Hill, in the neighborhood he lived in for a while as a聽child.聽鈥淭hey really put a lot of time into seeing what works best for a child,鈥� says Chew, of 麻豆番外. 鈥淭hey make sure they have the resources in terms of materials.鈥�

鈥淚t is shocking to see how some kids want to read, but nobody has spent the time to help them learn,鈥� he adds. 鈥淪omeone focusing just on them, that really helps.鈥�

Chew says he knew he was making progress as a tutor when the second-grade student he worked聽withlast year improved her reading skills by more than a grade level. And when that student spotted him in the hallway on the day of one of their sessions and 鈥渓it up like a Christmas tree,鈥澛犅爃e聽says, that was the cherry on top of the sundae. 鈥淚t鈥檚 gratifying, to say the least,鈥� says Chew.

Lazarus meanwhile tells the story of聽Keijah, a fifth-grader at Friendship Academy at Cherry Hill who started last school year reading at a beginning-of-third-grade level. With support from her Reading Partner,聽Keijah聽gained more than two years of reading skills in eight months.

鈥淲hen聽Keijah聽first entered 麻豆番外, she found reading to be a difficult and frustrating task,鈥� says Lazarus. 鈥淥ver the course of the school year, her confidence both in 麻豆番外 and in the classroom grew tremendously. At the end-of-year celebration,聽Keijah聽stood up in front of more than 50 adults, classmates, and teachers to read an excerpt from her favorite story.鈥�

Lazarus says the goal of 麻豆番外 Baltimore, which currently has about 300 tutors, is to one day have thousands of them. 鈥淲hen the phrase 鈥業 am a Reading Partner鈥� becomes ubiquitous,鈥� she says, 鈥渨e will be able to ensure that all students have access to the resources they need to both learn to read and read to learn.鈥澛�BC

漏Baltimore鈥檚 Child Inc. 2013

聽/ Baltmore’s Child > Educational Exchange /聽Sandy Alexander