A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

III. Ensuring that All Children Have the Opportunity to Learn to Read

Speakers:
Carol Albritton, Director, National Literacy Corps, Institute for Service Learning, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Laura Lindemann, Book Buddies, Charlottesville, Virginia

Alan Ozer, Teacher, Kensington High School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Ruchama Clermont, Student, Kensington High School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Mary Abouzeid, Associate Professor, Director of State Outreach Programs, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia

Moderator:
Margaret Legowski, Education Sector Specialist, Corporation for National Service, Washington, D.C.

Abstract:
What does the National Research Council report say about volunteer tutors? Are they effective? Who benefits? What does a well-developed volunteer tutoring program look like? How can schools and communities best access this largely untapped resource? When volunteer tutors are well-screened, well-trained and well-supervised, they are a rich resource for teachers and parents struggling to provide children with opportunities to learn to read. Effective volunteer tutors can and do provide valuable practice and motivational support for children, but their work cannot and should not replace professional primary or remedial reading instruction.

During the course of this workshop, participants will have the opportunity to explore these questions and the National Research Council's findings with a panel of practitioners representing two of many different types of successful volunteer tutoring programs: Book Buddies and the National Literacy Corps. Book Buddies, a research-based one-to-one tutoring program developed at the University of Virginia's McGuffey Reading Center by Drs. Marcia Invernizzi and Connie Juel, engages well-trained volunteers (senior citizens, AmeriCorps VISTA members, and federal work study students) in tutoring the first and second graders in their communities. The program began in 1991 in collaboration with the Charlottesville City Schools and now operates in Cleveland, Ohio, and New York's South Bronx. Also begun in 1991, the National Literacy Corps, a cross-age tutoring program developed by former principal Dr. Harry Silcox uses service-learning as a strategy for improving the reading and writing skills of both tutors and tutees in grades K-12. Students trained as literacy tutors work one-on-one with elementary students, earning credit toward graduation while developing skills that prepare them for postsecondary education or the world of work. The National Literacy Corps, a Corporation for National Service grantee, is operated by the Institute for Service-Learning, an international organization that promotes service-learning in communities and schools.

Participants will gain an increased understanding of the study's findings on volunteer tutors, knowledge of the components of effective tutoring programs, awareness of the benefits and challenges of such an endeavor, and practical information on how to best access tutors.

Notes

I. Welcome and Session Overview

Participants were welcomed and invited to introduce themselves to the people around them to emphasize the importance of two key America Reads and national service concepts: relationships and partnerships. The objectives of the session and the overall agenda (which were developed by the Corporation for National Service in partnership with Book Buddies and the National Literacy Corps) were reviewed. A brief explanation of the relationship between the Corporation for National Service, the panelists and America Reads was given. The panelists were briefly introduced.

A. Objectives

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Recognize National Research Council findings on the role of volunteer tutors;

• Identify at least one new state, local or national resource related to volunteer tutors.

During the Summit, participants will be able to:

• Articulate a research-based rationale for using volunteer tutors;

• Apply National Research Council findings in developing state plans and programs.

B. Agenda

• Welcome and Overview

• Introduction to National Research Council Findings: Group Quiz

• Panel Presentations
  National Literacy Corps - Q/A
  Book Buddies - Q/A
  

• Final Wrap Up: Review Quiz

II. Introduction to Research

Chapters IX and X of Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children call for all of us to put our reading "Knowledge into Action" for the sake of our children. There are many ways to do this, including using volunteer tutors. Well screened, well trained and well monitored, volunteer tutors can and do effectively support parents and teachers in their efforts to assist all children in reading well and independently by the end of third grade. The findings of the National Research Council study and other studies support this contention.

(General statements regarding the effectiveness of volunteer tutors were pulled from the National Research Council report and put into a 7-point true and false "quiz." Participants were invited to read through the quiz in order to identify the true statements, changing their answers as often as desired. The "quiz" would be used as a wrap up activity. Note: all statements were true.)

Group Quiz (Statements were pulled from Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children)

1. Volunteer tutors can provide valuable practice support for students.

2. Volunteer tutors are effective in reading to children and in supervising oral reading.

3. Volunteer tutors can effectively motivate young students to read.

4. Volunteer tutors provide students with opportunities to engage in enriching conversation.

5. Volunteer tutors must be well screened to be effective.

6. Volunteer tutors must have intensive and ongoing training.

7. Volunteer tutors must be well supervised to be effective.

III. Panel Presentations

And what do these and other research findings actually look like in action? Two organizations were asked to describe their volunteer tutoring programs in terms of the research conclusions listed above and the research-based key elements of effective tutoring programs previously identified by the Corporation for National Service and the Department of Education in the publication Principles and Key Components for High Quality America Reads National Service Program Initiatives. These key components include: (1) use of research-based elements to produce reading achievement, (2) well-structured tutoring sessions in which the content and delivery of instruction are carefully planned, (3) close coordination with schools, school administration, the classroom and/or reading teachers, day care provider, pre-school, and/or Headstart center, (4) intensive and ongoing training and supervision for tutors, (5) frequent and regular tutoring sessions, (6) careful evaluation, assessment, monitoring and reinforcement of progress, (7) access to training and technical assistance resources, and (8) engendering positive, caring relationships among students, staff and tutors. Panelists were also asked to share other appropriate research findings related to program effectiveness.

Presentation 1: National Literacy Corps Panelists: A. Carol Albritton, Director, National Literacy Corps, Philadelphia, PA
B. Alan Ozer, Teacher and Service-Learning Coordinator, Kensington High School, Philadelphia, PA
C. Ruchama Clermont, Student Tutor, Kensington, High School, Philadelphia, PA

A. Carol Albritton (Program Director)

The National Literacy Corps is a service-learning program that uses cross-age tutoring as a strategy for increasing the academic skills of tutors and tutees. Approximately 40 teachers and 1,000 students are currently involved in the program. This program is funded through the Corporation for National Service, Learn and Serve America, and operates out of the Institute for Service-Learning in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Key points about the National Literacy Corps:

• Middle and high school students serve as tutors.
• Tutoring and tutor training are integrated with classroom instruction.
• Participating teachers are trained in service learning and literacy.
• Both tutors and tutees gain as a result of program participation.
• Middle and high schools generally establish a tutoring partnership with a nearby elementary school.
• AmeriCorps*VISTA members help coordinate volunteers.

Key points about tutoring:

• Tutors meet with tutees 2-3 times per week in 30-minute sessions.
• Level of instruction is targeted to the individual child.
• Tutoring strategies are research-based and include using multiple strategies (both whole language and phonics approaches).
• Tutoring sessions provide tutees with an opportunity to practice reading and reading strategies.
• Emphasis is placed on motivating students to read and making reading fun (e.g., making a giant bookworm on which the names of completed books are written).
• To be effective, tutors must be well suited to the task; many tutors in this program are themselves "classic underachievers" who can readily identify with their tutees.
• Student tutors are highly motivated and can motivate tutees.

B. Alan Ozer (Teacher)

Kensington High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is an active participant in the National Literacy Corps and an example of service learning in action.

Key points about the Kensington High School Program:

• 92 percent of the students qualify for federal assistance (this is a Title I school).
• Many students in the school are not proficient in English.
• The tutoring program is part of a multi-disciplinary service-learning course that takes place during the last period of the school day, five days a week.
• Three hours of the course take place "out in the world" (i.e., tutoring children at a nearby elementary school).
• Two hours a week is spent in training and preparing the student tutors and in processing the experience.
• Tutors are high school students and tutees are in grades 1-3.
• Teachers have noted the transformation that takes place in both tutors and tutees.
• A celebration is held at the end of the year to recognize all participants' efforts and successes.

Key points about tutoring:

• This is a team activity: the tutors' teacher, tutees' teachers, school reading specialist, tutors, tutees, AmeriCorps VISTA member all have specific and complementary roles.
• Tutoring sessions are either one-on-one or one tutor with a small group of children who are engaged in a "book-based" activity.
• Tutees get a book of their own to keep and take home with a parent "Tip Sheet" and progress report.
• Some of the high school tutors convened a parent involvement meeting.
• Tutors' progress is tracked in journals and reviewed during informal meetings of tutors with teachers.
• Tutors reflect on their experience immediately following the tutoring sessions.

Key points related to National Research Council study:

• All tutors are screened, trained and supervised.
• The tutors' high school teacher is the first line supervisor; the elementary classroom teachers are the back up.
• Reading specialists are part of the tutoring team.
• Both teachers and tutors are trained; training is ongoing.
• The tutors motivate the young children to read (the young children admire and look up to their tutors).
• The program emphasizes "good literature" with multicultural themes * Tutees practice reading and work on comprehension strategies (in particular, vocabulary building and story retelling).
• There is close coordination between all involved teachers.

C. Ruchama Clermont (Student Tutor):

• "I loved it."
• "Inside of me I had the passion of a teacher."
• "We would do interactive reading -- read and then prompt and ask the child questions to test comprehension."
• We engaged the children in "conversation about a book...and practiced words."

Questions from the audience for the National Literacy Corps:

Q: How does a school become a site?

A: Contact the National Literacy Corps Office (fact sheets and information were available on the back resource table). Note: Other cross-age tutoring programs exist and are funded through each state's Learn and Serve America state formula funds. SEA contact lists were available on the back resource table.

Q: Can you give more information and specifics about tutor training?

A: First, the teacher who will oversee the program receives training. Tutors are then trained over a 6-week period by the teacher.

Q: What assessment methods or tools are used to gauge the child's reading level?

A: The program uses its own instrument to get a general understanding of the child's reading level. There is close coordination and much information sharing with the classroom teacher.

Q: How does the partnership work?

A: Partnerships are primarily developed with the school district; sometimes individual teachers are involved rather than a district.

Q: Isn't the program more focused on the tutors than on the children? Do they really tutor enough time or engage in enough literacy activities to really make a difference?

A: Evaluations have primarily focused on tutors (and have shown improvement in tutors' behavior, absenteeism and language arts skills). Anecdotal information about the tutee's progress appears to be impressive -- formal tutee evaluations will be developed for future programs.

Presentation 2: Book Buddies

Presenters:

A. Laura McMahon Lindemann (School Coordinator) B. Mary Abouzeid (Director of Outreach Programs)

Book Buddies is a "supplementary intervention in which selected children receive one-on-one tutorials twice a week in addition to classroom reading instruction..." (Preventing Reading Difficulties, p. 259) Begun in 1991 by reading faculty at the University of Virginia, the program uses highly trained community volunteers who are regularly supervised by a reading specialist. The program has met with great success and has been replicated in other settings.

(Note: Representatives from the program used slides and a video clip to frame their joint presentation on the program's history, purpose and effective components. A summary of key points follows.)

Key points about Book Buddies:

• Book Buddies began as a joint project of the University of Virginia's McGuffey Reading Center; Charlottesville, VA, City Schools; and the greater Charlottesville community.
• Research has shown that children who lack phonological awareness are likely to become poor readers -- and that early instruction that includes phonological awareness facilitates reading and spelling.
• 25 percent of Charlottesville's incoming students lack phonological awareness.
• The program began in 1991 in one Charlottesville elementary school; later funding allowed them to expand into all the elementary schools in the district.
• The first 3 years were funded by the university and external grants; the school district assumed funding in 1995.
• The program is moving into other settings, including the South Bronx.
• Book Buddies began as part of a comprehensive district-wide intervention, the Charlottesville Reading Initiative.

Key elements of the plan included:

• Direct one-to-one intervention through Book Buddies Smaller class sizes in primary grades.
• Trained instructional assistants.
• Professional development for teachers Title I support.

Key Points about Tutoring:

• Key roles of the tutoring intervention include "The Triad" (reading coordinator, community volunteer, student)

The coordinators' responsibilities include:

• Assessing students.
• Arranging the tutoring schedule.
• Creating/collecting materials.
• Writing individual lesson plans and explaining them to tutors Monitoring tutoring lesson and modeling instruction when needed Giving and receiving feedback to/from tutor.
• Consulting with school personnel.
• Tutoring students.

Tutor responsibilities include:

• Attending 2 formal training sessions.
• Tutoring a student during two 45 minute sessions each week Previewing and following individualized lesson plans Providing written and oral feedback on the lesson.
• Student selection and assessment is based on teacher recommendation, Title I referral, and Book Buddies assessment of students' knowledge and skills (alphabetic knowledge, knowledge of concepts of words, phoneme-grapheme knowledge, word recognition in isolation, word recognition in context, etc.)

A typical session is well-structured and lasts for 45 minutes and includes the following elements:

• Rereading old books.
• Working with phonics and a word bank writing.
• Reading a new book.

Key points related to research:

• Book Buddies measures results in several ways and at several different times (including pre and post testing, ongoing assessment, assessment over time, surveys of students and tutors and percentage of children reading a particular book with 90 percent accuracy).
• Pre-post test results show gains in word recognition and phonemic awareness.

The program has been adapted and replicated in other settings and some elements have changed as a result: Original Book Buddies: 140 first and second graders in Charlottesville, VA.
Reading specialists, tutors, community volunteers, Federal Work Study (FWS) students

Urban Replication: 53 first graders in Danville, VA; 53 first graders in South Bronx, NY.
Teachers, tutors, Retired and Senior Volunteers (RSVP), AmeriCorps VISTA members, FWS students.

• Research questions raised by urban adaptations include: "Can Book Buddies be replicated in high-poverty urban areas?" and "Does a second year of intervention make a difference for students who are still at risk at the end of grade 1?"
• Additional information is available on the Book Buddies web site.

IV. Wrap Up

Main points of National Research Council study were reviewed and summarized as follows:

1. Volunteer tutors can provide valuable practice support for students. Volunteer tutors can supplement classroom instruction by providing additional time on task. Tutoring programs can't replace quality primary instruction. Tutoring must be coordinated with classroom instruction.

2. Volunteer tutors are effective in reading to children and in supervising oral reading. The primary tasks of the tutor are to motivate students, provide opportunities for practice and build fluency. Volunteers should not have to provide primary reading instruction.

3. Volunteer tutors can effectively motivate young students to read. Tutors can help students succeed -- and success is a powerful motivator. Volunteer tutors also help children build positive affective associations with reading.

4. Volunteer tutors provide students with opportunities to engage in enriching conversation. Volunteer tutors can use conversation to help children build vocabulary and effective communication skills. Volunteers serve as important role models and mentors for children.

5. Volunteer tutors must be well screened to be effective. Volunteer tutoring is as much about relationship building as it is about reading. Among other factors, tutors need to be screened for their comfort/experience with children and for their willingness to commit to participating in regular tutoring sessions (at least 2 or 3 times a week) and ongoing training.

6. Volunteer tutors must have intensive and ongoing training. Training needs to take place before tutoring begins and on an ongoing basis. Training should build on the skills of the tutors and include, at a minimum, strategies for reading to and with children, strategies for writing and speaking with children, strategies for building phonics skills, and processes for monitoring student progress and communicating with a child's teachers and parents.

7. Volunteer tutors must be well supervised to be effective. Supervision should be ongoing and include regular feedback, support and training. Supervisors should be sensitive to the relationship between the tutor and child as well as to the skills of the child and tutor.