Reading Partners Launches in 9 Tulsa Public Schools, Joining Local Effort to Expand Educational Opportunity

Leading national literacy program successfully brings high quality program to highest-need schools

For Immediate Release
Tulsa, OK – October 18, 2013 – National education nonprofit organization Reading Partners has successfully launched its high quality literacy intervention program in nine Tulsa Public Schools. The program plans to serve 360 elementary school students, and has recruited more than 300 community volunteers. Reading Partners recruits and trains volunteers to work one-on-one with students using a highly effective curriculum.

Reading Partners also announced the name of its new executive director for the Tulsa region, Barry Maxwell. Maxwell brings nearly 30 years of professional experience in social services including public and private sector, and more than 20 years of program management and leadership experience to the organization.

Visit the Reading Partners website to view the confirmed list of 2013-14 Reading Partners schools.

“Reading Partners has a tremendous opportunity to make a difference in the lives of many children in the Tulsa area by helping disadvantaged students to become proficient readers,” said Tulsa Executive Director Barry Maxwell. “Early reading skills are fundamental for future success academically and socially, and I have thrilled that I can be part of this proven program.”

Working in schools in low-income communities, Reading Partners transforms a dedicated space into a Reading Center, complete with a library and teaching tools managed by a full-time staff member. Reading Partners collaborates with teachers and principals to identify students reading six months to two-and-a-half years below grade level, and provide them with personalized literacy instruction.

Reading Partners recruits and trains community volunteers to provide weekly one-on-one literacy tutoring using its research-based curriculum, a series of structured lesson plans that progress from phonics instructions for younger students to higher order comprehension strategies for older students.

Reading Partners sees demonstrable results in the reading skills of students in its program. In the 2012-13 school year, 88 percent of Reading Partners students increased their monthly rates of literacy learning. Before enrollment last year, Reading Partners students gained an average of only 0.6 months of reading skills for every month in the classroom. By the end of the year with Reading Partners, students gain an average of 1.6 months of reading skills per month, more than doubling their rate of learning and catching up to their on-grade level peers.

To become a volunteer tutor with Reading Partners and help a child experience the joy and power of reading, please visit the Reading Partners website.

About Reading Partners

Reading Partners is a national education nonprofit organization that provides volunteer-led, one-on-one literacy tutoring to K-5 students at low-income elementary schools. Reading Partners has an 89% success rate improving students’ reading skills. At each school site, Reading Partners transforms a dedicated space into a reading center and recruits a corps of 40-100 community volunteers who work directly with students. Volunteers are trained and supported by site coordinators to use a highly structured and research-validated curriculum to work one-on-one with students who have fallen behind in reading. To learn more, visit www.readingpartners.org.