BALTIMORE — Reading Partners, a national nonprofit that trains community volunteers to provide students with proven, individualized reading support urgently needs more community members to join its efforts. The literacy organization has been providing proven volunteer-led, one-on-one reading support to under-resourced public elementary schools since 1997. The program seeks to serve more than 775 students in 14 schools in Baltimore, but over 100 students are waiting to be matched with a volunteer reading partner tutor.
According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, in 2015 only 21 percent of fourth graders from low-income families are reading at grade level. Without reading, kids won’t have an equitable chance to succeed. Reading Partners is working closely with the Baltimore school district in a joint effort to equip more students with the foundational skills they need to read at grade level by fourth grade.
“All students in Baltimore have the right to obtain a high quality education. Reading proficiency is the critical first step on the path to future educational success,” says Alissa Ganser, Community Engagement Director, “Reading Partners has a tremendous track record and a proven, evidence-based curriculum that will make a meaningful and measurable difference for our students in Baltimore.”
Reading Partners Baltimore is looking for volunteers to commit to at least an hour a week to work individually with children who struggle with reading at one of 14 schools in Baltimore City:
Fallstaff Elementary at 3801 Fallstaff Road; Liberty Elementary at 3901 Maine Avenue; Matthew A. Henson
Elementary at 1600 N Payson Street; Furman L. Templeton Elementary at 1200 N Pennsylvania Avenue; Historic Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Elementary at 507 W Preston Street; Lockerman Bundy Elementary at 301 N Pulaski Street; Southwest Baltimore Charter School at 1300 Herkimer Street; Westport Elementary at 2401 Nevada Street; . Arundel Elementary at 2400 Round Road; Friendship Academy at Cherry Hill at 801 Bridgeview Road; Francis Scott Key Elementary at 1425 E Fort Avenue; Abbottston Elementary at 1300 Gorsuch Avenue; Moravia Park Primary School at 6201 Frankford Avenue; and Holabird Elementary at 1500 Imla Street.
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 individualized literacy tutoring to nearly 11,000 elementary school students in under-resourced schools across nine states and the District of Columbia in 2015.
To learn more about the organization or to become a volunteer, visit: www.readingpartners.org.