September 19, 2016
Reading Partners Colorado calls for community tutors in 2016-17
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Margie Thirlby, Executive Director, Reading Partners Colorado
(206) 992.5512, margie.thirlby@
(Denver, CO) September 19, 2016 — Reading Partners is a national children’s literacy organization that collaborates with local public schools and mobilizes community volunteers to provide students in under-resourced schools with the proven, individualized reading support they need to read at grade level by fourth grade.
Reading Partners transforms a dedicated space into a reading center, complete with a library and teaching tools managed by a full-time AmeriCorps member or staff member. Reading Partners collaborates with teachers and principals to identify students reading behind grade level, and provides them with personalized literacy instruction.
Reading Partners Colorado is proud to be recognized as an organization making a difference with early readers. Based on Colorado survey responses, 91% of teachers report Reading Partners is valuable to their school and 95% of volunteers were satisfied with their experience.
“During the 2015-16 school year, Reading Partners Colorado volunteers delivered over 30,000 one-on-one tutoring sessions to students,” said Margie Thirlby, Executive Director. “We are thrilled to continue our impact this school year and serve more students with the support of our donors, volunteers, and school communities.”
More Volunteers Needed in the 2016-17 School Year
According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, in 2015, only 21 percent of low-income students nationwide, and 36 percent of students overall, are reading proficiently by the fourth grade. This means that nearly nine million low-income elementary school students are still learning to read when they should instead be reading to learn.
In Colorado, only 39 percent of fourth graders scored at or above proficient in reading in 2015 according to the National Assessment for Educational Progress. Reading is the foundation for all future learning. Without developing the reading skills needed to read on grade level, kids won’t have an equitable chance to succeed in school or in life. In fact, students who can’t read by fourth grade are four times more likely to drop out of school or not earn a high school diploma.
With the dedication of more than 14,000 volunteer tutors in Colorado and across the US, Reading Partners’ volunteers are helping more than 11,000 students become skilled, confident readers who will be able to achieve their individual potential.
In the 2016-17 school year, Reading Partners aims to match over 700 community volunteers with 500 struggling readers in Colorado. By tutoring a student one-on-one for as little as an hour a week, volunteers can make an impact that can quite literally alter the course of a child’s educational experience and life.
“Reading Partners makes a huge difference in our schools by giving extra attention to students and providing one-on-one care in a subject that is the main building block for everything,” says Reading Partners volunteer, Ron Zinter (Ron tutors at Kaiser Elementary School).
In the 2015-16 school year, 92 percent of Reading Partners’ K-2 students in Colorado mastered the foundational reading skills needed to read at grade level. These impressive student results would not be possible without the generous participation of thousands of community volunteers. To become a volunteer with Reading Partners, please visit readingpartners.org/volunteer today.
About Reading Partners
Reading Partners empowers students to succeed in reading and in life by engaging community volunteers to provide one-on-one tutoring. The national nonprofit organization will provide proven, individualized literacy tutoring to more than 11,000 elementary school students in under-resourced schools across ten states and the District of Columbia in the 2016-17 school year. Visit readingpartners.org, or connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, andFacebook, to learn more. Contact: margie.thirlby@
