Courtesy of Alexandria Tutoring Consortium
ATC tutor Laura Clapsaddle.
According to an Annie E. Casey Foundation Research Report, children who are not reading successfully by the end of third grade are on the high school-dropout path – they are four times more likely to leave school without a diploma than those who read at grade level.
Alexandria Tutoring Consortium (ATC), a non-profit organization that tutors kindergarten and first graders deficient in reading skills, attribute this to a number of reasons – English being a second language, socioeconomic factors and a lack of resources. With the help of ATC’s 173 virtual volunteers, the organization is able to make a difference in the lives of local children.
ATC, in partnership with community organizations and Alexandria City Public Schools, trains tutors through a program designed at the University of Virginia, and then assigns tutors to one of nine schools, where they tutor one or two 30-45-minute sessions each week.
The tutors, a group of volunteers sacrificing their free time, “are incredible, dedicated individuals,” expressed ATC Board Chair Board Frank Stiff. “Time and time again, we hear how they go above and beyond to help a child learn to read. I’ve only heard of one (reading) tent so far, but we’ve also heard of tutors donning character costumes from a favorite book for a tutoring session and even scheduling extra time beyond the allotted twice-weekly sessions.”
With the struggles of the pandemic, and despite the hard work of tutors and staff, Stiff found that they are not progressing at the same levels as to prior five-days-a-week in-person tutoring. “At the halfway point this school year, 45 percent of ATC Book Buddy students were reading on grade level. Last year at the same point (pre-pandemic), 63 percent were reading on level,” according to ATC Executive Director Lisa Jacobs. Despite this, Jacobs “knows our curriculum works…tutors are motivated… students enjoy working with their tutors…and the teachers are grateful we’re providing differentiated literacy support to their classrooms.”
The creation of a first virtual, summer program was launched last year, giving many ATC students the tools to get student’s reading on grade level. Currently, they are in the process of planning and fundraising for this year’s summer tutoring session. In order to raise money for these additional resources, ATC will participate in the online fundraiser Spring2Action, which will be held April 28 with early donations starting April 14. To make the online program possible, log on to alexandriatutors.org and click the “donate” button.
If your child is struggling to read, visit alexandriatutors.org.
