By Janet Menosky Smith
For the past 3 years, I’ve created and run the Reading Outreach Tutoring Program two days a week during the school year. As we begin our fourth year, we have changed location and uncovered some significant reading needs in a group of children who attend an after-school program.
For the past 3 years, I’ve created and run the Reading Outreach Tutoring Program 2 days a week during the school year. I’ve trained volunteer tutors and we’ve served a small group of students each year. Last year, I volunteered as a mentor at Sonward Youth Program’s Elevate Lunch and Learn program. I could see that Director Kim Louis and Sonward already had an established after-school program with 25-50 kids attending each week. Since Sonward was already serving a large number of kids, it made sense to me to approach Kim about offering the reading program to kids who need it in the after-school program.
During September, I tested the reading levels of ten students at Sonward, to see who would qualify for reading help. Three of the students tested high enough to not need intervention. However, seven out of ten, or 70% of the students, tested far below grade level and urgently needed help. Below are their results.
Student* Grade Grade Level of Reading
KP 3 K/1st End of K - beginning of 1st grade
HJ 3 1st End of 1st grade
TJ 3 below K
CN 4 2
FD 5 K/1st End K/beginning 1st
TC 5 K/1st End K/beginning 1st
NM 8 below K
I assessed students using the QRI Graded Word Lists and Passages – to determine their approximate grade level in reading, as well as their accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. I also administered the CORE Phonics Assessment to identify their knowledge of key phonics/reading patterns. All the students demonstrated gaps in their basic phonics/decoding knowledge and while they had varied success with simple CVC words (i.e. words like: sip, mat, rut) no one was able to successfully complete reading all the words with blends or digraphs (i.e. words like: stop, silk, wash, match).
In the (now) 4 years of offering this program, I have not seen so many students at such low levels in their reading progress. The results also suggest that there are likely many more kids in the after-school program that would benefit from reading help.
As we begin working with these students this school year, we do so realizing that the need is great. Our small group of volunteer tutors and teen mentors are poised to begin making a difference and their work has already begun. I’ll continue to keep you updated on what we are doing, how we are doing it, and the progress being made as the year progresses.
Yours in reaching & teaching,
Janet
For the past 3 years, I’ve created and run the Reading Outreach Tutoring Program 2 days a week during the school year. I’ve trained volunteer tutors and we’ve served a small group of students each year. Last year, I volunteered as a mentor at Sonward Youth Program’s Elevate Lunch and Learn program. I could see that Director Kim Louis and Sonward already had an established after-school program with 25-50 kids attending each week. Since Sonward was already serving a large number of kids, it made sense to me to approach Kim about offering the reading program to kids who need it in the after-school program.
During September, I tested the reading levels of ten students at Sonward, to see who would qualify for reading help. Three of the students tested high enough to not need intervention. However, seven out of ten, or 70% of the students, tested far below grade level and urgently needed help. Below are their results.
Student* Grade Grade Level of Reading
KP 3 K/1st End of K - beginning of 1st grade
HJ 3 1st End of 1st grade
TJ 3 below K
CN 4 2
FD 5 K/1st End K/beginning 1st
TC 5 K/1st End K/beginning 1st
NM 8 below K
I assessed students using the QRI Graded Word Lists and Passages – to determine their approximate grade level in reading, as well as their accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. I also administered the CORE Phonics Assessment to identify their knowledge of key phonics/reading patterns. All the students demonstrated gaps in their basic phonics/decoding knowledge and while they had varied success with simple CVC words (i.e. words like: sip, mat, rut) no one was able to successfully complete reading all the words with blends or digraphs (i.e. words like: stop, silk, wash, match).
In the (now) 4 years of offering this program, I have not seen so many students at such low levels in their reading progress. The results also suggest that there are likely many more kids in the after-school program that would benefit from reading help.
As we begin working with these students this school year, we do so realizing that the need is great. Our small group of volunteer tutors and teen mentors are poised to begin making a difference and their work has already begun. I’ll continue to keep you updated on what we are doing, how we are doing it, and the progress being made as the year progresses.
Yours in reaching & teaching,
Janet
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