United Way is trying to find 1000 volunteers to tutor in the region's elementary schools. Literacy by the end of the third grade is absolutely essential for any student's success in higher grades. The middle schools and high school's can't improve unless third grade literacy improves.
Providing one on one help works. You can only work with a few kids but on the other hand you actually see the result. Schools will never be able to pay for enough professionals to meet the need. The community has to step up or watch the slide in achievement continue.
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UW's intentions are really good. However, unless I am wrong, the majority of their volunteers go into classrooms and read to a class six times in a year. While this is a nice gesture, it's not even a band-aid solution.
UW's intentions are really good. However, unless I am wrong, the majority of their volunteers go into classrooms and read to a class six times in a year. While this is a nice gesture, it's not even a band-aid solution.
When we did this at my previous job it was for all subjects..every week for 1hr...every minute counts when your minutes are spent with a child that needs help to learn..
Having been involved in this program (and Project Reads), you can be involved one hour per week having K, 1st, 2nd or 3rd graders read to you as you attempt to find subjects that specifically are of interest to the student. When you do, it becomes a "win-win" all the way around! The Learn United program allows you to spend as many hour as you want working directly under a teacher's direction right in the classroom. This is a very good and important program - and well received by the students. I was pleasently supprised when I was greeted with an exuberant, "Mr. Kalb!" by one of the young people that I worked with at Nebraska School, when I was shopping at Scotts one day this summer! It is a great program for old retired gentlemen!
My wife and I have been in a weekly after school program with "Project Reads" at Study and Indian Village for six years. I have been volunteering in classes during school hours twice a week at two high schools for five years. You can do as little or as much as you want, but you need to commit to doing it regularly. With enough community support these programs would be way more effective than a "band aid". They may be the key to saving our schools.
Well said Code Blue....it was all volunteers at my grade school when I was there and I know my mom did it for years. She had the job that "Title One" is now...but she was not paid for it History does repeat itself....
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