You Can Do To Help All Children Read Well and Independently by the End of the Third Grade

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U.S Department of Education

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You Can Help Meet the Challenge

You can help meet President Clinton's America Reads Challenge, a national, grassroots literacy effort to help all children read well and independently by the end of third grade.

Everyone has something important to contribute to the America Reads Challenge. You can change the life of a child by reading daily to your own child, by serving as a tutor in your community to another child, or by joining together with other members of your community to start or expand a local literacy program.

In this booklet, you will find suggestions for simple things you can do to help meet the America Reads Challenge. You can help as a parent, school, librarian, concerned citizen, community organization, university, employer, or as a member of the media.

We hope you will join the millions of people in the United States who are already helping to meet this Challenge by working with children in reading and other language skills. Whether you help as an individual, or join with others, every contribution toward this effort makes a difference in the future of our children.

What is the America Reads Challenge?

President Clinton proposed the America Reads Challenge in August 1996 to involve every American in helping our children to read well and independently by the end of third grade.

By developing and expanding current community literacy efforts, the America Reads Challenge can help many more children increase their language and reading skills and achievement. Teachers, principals, librarians, literacy organizations, businesses, national service programs, and nonprofits can all play a key role in strengthening learning through after-school, summer, and weekend reading programs. Families can serve as their child's first teacher, and community members can serve as tutors, mentors, and reading partners.

What is READ*WRITE*NOW!?

READ*WRITE*NOW! is a research-based community reading initiative that encourages students to read and write at least 30 minutes a day for 5 days a week. At least one of those days a week, children read with a learning partner or tutor. Children also learn one new vocabulary word a day and get a library card. This initiative was developed by researchers and practitioners, and is supported by over 75 national education, literacy, community, and religious organizations.

READ*WRITE*NOW! materials for families and caregivers of children from birth through Grade 6, as well as free tutoring materials, are available through the Department's home page (http://www.ed.gov) and its toll-free 1-800-USA-LEARN number as long as supplies last.

How Can I Start an America Reads Challenge: READ*WRITE*NOW Reading Program in My Community?

1. Bring together family, school, library, college, and community organizations that have a stake in helping all children read well and independently by the end of third grade.
   
   Parents, teachers, representatives of existing literacy programs, the local library, nearby colleges and universities, local businesses, area youth service organizations, civic associations, museums, arts and cultural organizations, retired teachers, bookstores, local newspapers, and religious groups can all help.
   
   
2. Ask them to join you in starting a local America Reads Challenge: READ*WRITE*NOW! Community Reading Program.
   
   
3. Begin Planning
   
   
   1. Ask your local school principal/s to help you identify the number of children who need extra help in reading and writing. Estimate the number of tutors needed for a program. Include children with special needs. Consider tutoring family members who cannot read or have low-level literacy skills. Contact the Corporation for National Service for a list of community service resources dedicated to supporting volunteers and tutoring activities.
      
      
   2. Identify the resources, training, and coordination that will be needed to conduct a program and who can provide those resources. Try to provide for resources that children with special needs require.
      
      
   3. Develop a plan for the project with time lines for starting, implementing, and evaluating it.
      
      
4. Launch your America Reads Challenge: READ*WRITE*NOW! Community Reading Project
   
   
   1. Set up a central point of contact in the community. Identify who will receive calls from the public and get the word out about the project. This could be a 1-800# at the school, college, or library, serviced by volunteers from the community.
      
      
   2. Identify a community coordinator. The coordinator can be from a school, library, college, or the community. This person should make sure that the work of the project gets done by building partnerships and calling upon the partners to conduct aspects of the program.
      
      
   3. Find safe sites for tutoring that are convenient and inviting to students (including those with special needs) and families and easily accessible to tutors.
      
      
   4. Ask principals and Title I, Head Start, and reading teachers, as well as parents at PTA and other parent meetings, to identify students that need help.
      
      
   5. Invite teachers and other school staff to provide special support for children with severe difficulties in reading.
      
      
   6. Recruit tutors. Ask parents, principals, teachers, librarians, and local media to help recruit tutors from the community. Use middle and high school students and college work-study students as tutors as well as retirees for young children. Contact your local senior center or Retired and Senior Volunteer Program office to help identify available volunteers in your community. Identify tutors who would be willing to work with children with special needs.
      
      
   7. Screen tutors. Follow local and state procedures for screening and using volunteers.
      
      
   8. Train tutors. Tutors are most effective and successful when they are trained and well coordinated. Work with your local reading teachers, local literacy groups, librarians, neighboring colleges of education, and reading supervisors in your district and state to provide training for tutors. Request assistance from your school district's special education office to provide training for volunteers working with students who have learning difficulties.
      
      
   9. Link students who need help with tutors. Make sure students and tutors know what is expected of them and are supported as needed. Check calendars each week to see what days and time of day tutors and students are meeting and contact them if there are any changes, especially if a back up tutor is needed for a session. Provide follow-up with students and tutors to see if there are any questions.
      
      
   10. Resolve transportation and other issues that can affect students and tutors.
       
       
   11. Anticipate liability issues. Make sure your host site's liability insurance adequately covers the activities of this project.
       
       
   12. Work with local reading teachers, librarians, and literacy groups to find suitable materials. There are a number of commercial tutoring materials available for this purpose as well as free America Reads Challenge: READ*WRITE*NOW! materials. Master copies of these materials for families, teachers, librarians, and caregivers can be obtained from the U.S. Department of Education's Internet web site http://www.ed.gov or through the Department's toll-free number 1-800-USA-LEARN, as long as supplies last.
       
       

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank Carol Rasco, Director of the America Reads Challenge, who provided the idea for this guide.

The principal authors of Simple Things You Can Do are Corey Chatis, Susan Thompson-Hoffman, Adriana de Kanter, Ollie Moles, Shirley Steele, Sarah Howes, Michelle Doyle, Margarita Colmenares, Leah Vosburgh, Menahem Herman, Jennifer Ballen, and Chandler Arnold of the U.S. Department of Education. The Department also wishes to acknowledge the assistance of Ellen Schiler, Libby Doggett, Gerrie Hawkins, Delia Pompa, Cynthia Dorfman, Simone Miranda, and Kim Silverman of the U.S. Department of Education and Leah Holmes-Bonilla and Jackie Burns of ZGS Communications, Inc. Special thanks go to Corey Chatis for guiding the production of this document.

Credits

We wish to thank Carol Rasco, Director of the America Reads Challenge, who provided the idea for this guide. The principal authors of Simple Things You Can Do are Corey Chatis, Susan Thompson-Hoffman, Adriana de Kanter, Ollie Moles, Shirley Steele, Sarah Howes, Michelle Doyle, Margarita Colmenares, Leah Vosburgh, Menahem Herman, Jennifer Ballen, and Chandler Arnold of the U.S. Department of Education. The Department also wishes to acknowledge the assistance of Ellen Schiler, Libby Doggett, Gerrie Hawkins, Delia Pompa, Cynthia Dorfman, Simone Miranda, and Kim Silverman of the U.S. Department of Education and Leah Holmes-Bonilla and Jackie Burns of ZGS Communications, Inc. Special thanks go to Corey Chatis for guiding the production of this document.