In his 1997 State of the Union address, President Clinton described his vision of all Americans working to achieve a critical national priority: helping every child read well and independently by the end of third grade. How could Americans get involved in making this vision a reality? Educators and volunteers from across the country identified reading tutoring as one way citizens could join in the America Reads Challenge.
Reading tutors offer children individual attention, intensive practice, and motivation to master reading skills. Children who are at risk of difficulty in learning to read have much to gain from tutoring. While tutors complement and support the instruction provided by teachers and reading specialists, they also give children the intangible gifts of an adult's attention and concern. Partnerships of schools, libraries, community colleges and universities, nonprofit organizations, religious and youth groups, businesses, and many others have chosen to initiate, strengthen, and expand reading tutoring programs as their contribution to the America Reads Challenge.
The 1998 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading scores, released by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, indicate that gains have been made in reading achievement since the last assessment in 1994. This is great news. However, the scores also show us that more work must be done to help children during those critical years between birth and the end of third grade, when they optimally acquire one of life's most essential skills: reading.
So That Every Child Can Read ... summarizes the work of 61 subcontracted reading tutoring programs across the country. The U.S. Department of Education provided an initial impetus to tutoring partnerships by funding one-time subcontracts of $50,000 each to 61 exemplary programs for the primary purpose of improving tutor training. The subcontracts provided an arena in which to explore models of tutor training and practice maximizing potential to make a significant difference in the lives of children. In this publication, these tutoring programs, as varied in their structure and methodology as they are in their geography, share their effective and promising practices and the lessons they have learned in the daily work of tutoring young children. A principal focus of this report is the programs' experiences with tutor training: What do tutors need to know, and what are the most effective ways for them to learn and master tutoring skills? This report also explores effective and promising practices in building community tutoring partnerships, tutoring program fundamentals, the elements of a tutoring session, and assessment.
I am pleased to recognize the work of these 61 partnerships and, through this publication, to share the most promising of their experiences with others around the country who are joined in the commitment to make tomorrow's adults proficient readers today.
Carol Hampton Rasco
Director
America Reads Challenge
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