Reading Partners Program

Reading Partners Program Overview

    What is the Reading Partners Program?    It began in February of 1997, and provides one-on-one reading instruction after school two times each week to approximately 100 students in grades one through four.  Four teachers and one coordinator train, provide lesson plans, and supervise more than 60 community volunteers.  It is modeled after the UVA Book Buddies program.

Bus transportation for children and snacks for tutors and children are provided.

When it began more than seven years ago, Reading Partners was the only reading intervention program in the elementary school.  At that time, the students in the program were in the bottom quartile of pretest results.  Since then, two Reading Recovery positions have been added (working with first grade students only), and three trained Reading Aides plus the Reading Specialist work with the most needy children in grades one and two on a daily  basis, using the same format as the Reading Partners lesson plan.  Therefore, many more children are being reached by intervention programs in our school than seven years ago.

Who are the students?  First through fourth graders

Who are the tutors?  Community volunteers who range in age from older school students to retirees

What is the pre and post assessment?  The school uses the PALS test in grades one through three, and a standardized test in grade four

What is the lesson plan?  Teacher coordinators prepare lesson plans for each session in this format:  Reread familiar stories, word study, writing, and introduce a new story in grades one and two; grade three adds nonfiction readings called "Quickreads" as well as storybooks; and grade four includes the Minipage from the Richmond Times Dispatch for more nonfiction text in a different format with storybooks and Quickreads

What is the focus of the program?  To provide extra reading and writing support to students in need and to involve the community working with the children

What is the number of frequency of sessions?  Two one-on-one sessions for 30 minutes each, two times weekly

Who do I contact?  To find out more, call Susan Swift at NES (580-8032) or email her at sswift@nucps.net