Reading Partners seeking 250 volunteers for spring semester

Originally posted on Tulsa World

A literacy-focused nonprofit organization is seeking a second semester assist.

Reading Partners, which provides one-on-one literacy tutoring for elementary school students, is searching for an additional 250 volunteers for the upcoming semester to work with Union students who are currently on a waiting list.

“We don’t want any child who is on the waiting list to not have the opportunity to grow in the spring semester,” Reading Partners Executive Director Olivia Martin said.

Volunteers do not have to have a background in education but must be at least 14 years old, be able to pass a background check and commit to helping out at least one hour each week. Training is provided.

After adding four schools over the summer, the organization now works with students at Boevers, Roy Clark, Darnaby, Jarman, Jefferson, McAuliffe, Moore, Ellen Ochoa, Rosa Parks and Peters elementary schools. Although some sites have more volunteers than others, Martin said there is a need for extra help at all 10 campuses.

A Reading Partners tutoring session consists of not only reading a developmentally appropriate book with the student but also activities and simple games that hone in on the specific challenges the student is having with phonics, decoding or sounding out words from basic letter sounds, vocabulary words and comprehension.

“We cannot say enough wonderful things about our friends at Union,” Martin said. “Everyone at the school sites has been incredibly helpful and supportive. We work very closely with their principals, their teachers and their literacy specialists to make sure that the students areassessed in the right way and we know exactly where to start them in the curriculum and how to support them and also make adjustments in real time if a student needs a little more time on a skill.”

Citing budgetary constraints tied to the sunsetting of federal COVID-19 relief money, Tulsa Public Schools ended its agreement with Reading Partners at the end of the 2024-2025 school year.

Some of the organization’s volunteers who were previously at TPS sites have stayed with Reading Partners and moved over to Union this year, including Mitch O’Farrell.

O’Farrell got involved with Reading Partners more than two years ago after reading about a public plea from TPS Superintendent Ebony Johnson for additional community volunteers to work with students and help the district avoid a takeover by the Oklahoma State Department of Education. Within short order, he went through a training session at Hardesty Regional Library and began working with students at McClure Elementary School.

A self-described avid reader, he’s tutoring students this year at Darnaby Elementary School through the program and said the opportunity to give back to the community has been a joy for him.

“I remember very clearly learning to read when I was that age and your mind is so pliable, you’re just ready to learn,” O’Farrell said. “And so when a volunteer can step in and make great use of that environment for a child to learn in, they’re just going to soak everything up like a sponge and pick things up so quickly.

“Once you really connect and break through with those children, it’s an invaluable experience and it works both ways.”