August 15, 2019

Reading Partners North Texas Helps Local Students Excel

Originally posted on NBC DFW by Laura Harris.

Studies show that 75% of students who struggle with reading in the third grade will never catch up with their classmates. Those same students are four times as likely to drop out of high school.

As students in North Texas head back to school, there is a non-profit also getting ready to help many of those students succeed.

“Their worlds literally expand. They make a connection with an adult and they see somebody who cares about them,” said Malik Stewart, program director of Reading Partners North Texas.

Reading Partners North Texas is a literacy non-profit, that started nationally. They have also been an integral part of NBC 5’s summer reading initiative Reading With You.

Last year alone, Reading Partners had 766 students participating in an average of 34, one-one-one tutoring sessions over the course of the school year. The volunteer tutors provide 90 minutes of one-on-one tutoring support to an average of 45 students per school each week.

Volunteers like Kelly Martin and Catalina Cooper.

“It’s a little bit of magic. I always say the best thing that or probably the most gratifying thing I have ever done is teach my own kids to read,” said Martin.

To see it kind of click and then they understand that the more you do it the better you get, it’s a really fun process.

“We’re helping also with their social skills, helping them just kind of interact with people and helping them interact with adults,” said Cooper. “Just the confidence. You can see it change in these kids as the time goes on.”

For more information on how to become a volunteer, no teaching experience required, or do make a book or monetary donation, visit Reading Partners North Texas.