Volunteer Program Gives Kindergartners Head Start
Published Mar 24, 2007
Volunteers for Albuquerque Reads have achieved dramatic results: More than 75 percent of graduating kindergartners who complete the program are reading at first-grade level.
Have you read about the kindergartners in Albuquerque whose reading levels are getting so much better?
Albuquerque Reads is a program that started in 2003 involving volunteer tutors who help raise the reading skill levels of kindergartners in elementary schools serving lower-income neighborhoods. The program is a partnership between the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce and Albuquerque Public Schools.
“The whole idea is to prepare kindergarten students so they will enter first grade reading at or above first-grade level,” says Michael Gaylor, Albuquerque Reads vice president for leadership. “Right now, about 700 adult volunteers are on our list to help students at Atrisco, Bel-Air and Wherry elementary schools. The volunteers are business people, retirees and other individuals from the community who want to help.”
Gaylor says the volunteers go through a three-hour training session during the summer, and the program commences each October.
“A tutor spends 30 minutes with one student, 30 minutes with another student and then 10 minutes writing an evaluation for the two sessions,” he says. “During each individual session, a tutor reads to a child, then the child reads to the tutor, and finally the tutor assists the child with writing and literacy skills.”
Albuquerque Reads occurs three times a week at each of the three schools, and every kindergartner has a tutor.
“When we started four years ago, fewer than 5 percent of the kindergartners entered first grade prepared to read,” Gaylor says.
“Now more than 75 percent of graduating kindergartners are reading at first-grade level, and another 10 percent are right on the cusp. It is a very satisfying program for everyone involved.”
Pat Dee, vice chair of the Leadership Division for the Greater Albuquerque Chamber and chief operating officer for First Community Bank, is bullish on the program and its beneficial effects. “Albuquerque Reads is an extension of our commitment to our children, who are the future,” Dee says. “As our volunteer support increases, so does our ability to provide resources and guidance to a larger group of students.”
Story by Kevin Litwin
Photo by Brian McCord
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