Our Programs
Reading Power’s highly trained volunteer tutors provide one-to-one literacy instruction during the school day under the guidance of educational professionals. Lesson plans structure each tutoring session and are individualized daily for each student. Each kindergarten through second grade session encompasses reading, writing, and speaking to foster the promise of literacy.
The Reading Power Advantage
The target population for the kindergarten through second grade programs is students identified as at-risk of reading failure, having scored below the 25th percentile on universal assessments. This year many students started below the 10th percentile.
Prekindergarten
The focus of our prekindergarten program is oral language development through high-quality literature. This program fosters the growth of children’s oral language and gives them opportunities for rich conversations. This helps to develop their listening comprehension, vocabulary, and a love of books. Our volunteers work with students several times a week in the classroom.
Kindergarten
Students in the kindergarten program develop story listening skills, phonemic awareness, and alphabet knowledge. These early literacy skills are the main predictors of first grade reading success. Kindergarten students receive 25-minute sessions four times per week.
First and Second Grade
The first and second grade program aims to accelerate students’ literacy learning through a balanced literacy curriculum. Students read texts at their individual instructional level, and a focus on developing fluency, writing and comprehension are the basis of our program. Direct word study instruction, including phonics and building a sight word vocabulary, is also emphasized. First and second grade students are tutored for 40 minutes, five days a week.
Beyond the School Day
In partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of Lake County, the summer program provides tutoring to address learning loss and mitigate the historic summer slide in reading skills. The goals are to increase reading comprehension, develop background knowledge, and build vocabulary.
Summary
Reading Power students receive 60-100 individual tutoring sessions throughout the academic year in a dedicated Reading Power space. A caring adult’s individualized, one-to-one attention is fundamental to Reading Power’s tutoring model. Tutored students demonstrate growth towards grade-level benchmarks through accelerated learning.
“We are extremely grateful for the connections that have been formed with the students. They love to read, and it warms our hearts to see the tutors create such strong bonds with students. The one-to-one time they give the children is very special.”
Cat Habercamp, Green Bay Early Childhood Center Teacher
Impact and Accomplishments 2021-2022
“Research shows that frequent, intensive tutoring — one-to-one or in small groups, multiple times a week — is one of the most effective ways to help students make up for academic gaps.”
Nickow, et al., National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, number 27476, July 2020
