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[MARYLAND] Samples of America Reads Challenge Federal Work-Study Programs and National Service Initiatives
BATES COLLEGE
President Donald W. Harward
America Reads Contact: Peggy Rotundo
Center for Service-Learning, 163 Wood Street
Lewiston, ME 04240
Telephone: (207) 786-8273
Fax: (207) 786-8282
Number of FWS students: 13
There are 17 Bates students participating in the America Reads Project, and an additional 4 student volunteers. Coordinated by the Lewiston Public Schools in partnership with the University of Southern Maine and Bates College, students are working on Project Story Boost with kindergartners at four of the six Lewiston elementary schools.
Project Story Boost, which was begun by USM Professor Margo Woods in 1993 in the Portland, ME schools, is an intervention for "at- risk" kindergarten children who have had limited exposure to storybooks and who lack basic understanding about print. Bates students are reading three or four days a week to children identified by their teachers as being "at-risk". The readers also engage the children in discussions of the storybooks and retelling activities. Bates students read with the children during the school day. Dr. Woods has provided several hours of training for the Bates students (which the participating kindergarten teachers attended as well). This training will be supplemented throughout the year by Donna Tardif, Title I Teacher Coordinator, and Janice Plourde, Elementary Education Director, both of the Lewiston school system. They will also handle program evaluation. Structured reflection activities for the work-study students will be coordinated by the Bates Center for Service-Learning.
Bates College in recent years has encouraged its students to use its Federal Work-Study funds within the community. Through its campus-wide advertising, the Bates Center for Service-Learning has actively encouraged students to become involved in community work-study positions, with the America Reads Challenge being an opportunity we enthusiastically promoted this year. We have been pleased with the enthusiastic response we have received from our students as well as from the staff in the Lewiston public schools. (Principals whose schools were not initially selected for this pilot project are very eager to have their schools included.) Bates students gave over 36,000 hours of service in the community last year as part of service-learning projects; thousands of these hours were spent in the local schools. We are pleased that the America Reads Challenge further extends and enhances the strong partnership that exists between Bates and our local public schools.
BOWDOIN COLLEGE
President Robert Edwards
America Reads Contact: Lisa Folk
Student Employment, 4700 College Station
Brunswick, Maine
Email: folk@henry.bowdoin.edu
Internet Address:
http://www.bowdoin.edu/seo/
Telephone: (207) 725-3386
Fax: (207) 725-3101
Number of FWS Students: 17
Number of Districts: 2
During the Spring 1998 semester, 17 work-study students have been working in 3 local schools as reading tutors of elementary students, primarily in grades K-3. The program began last fall with ten tutors and has expanded this semester because of demand from the schools. In fact, we have many more requests for tutors than we can fill because of limited funding. Furthermore, there were more than 40 applicants for the 17 positions offered.
The Bowdoin students each tutor about 4-6 hours per week. Approximately 30 teachers have the aid of an America Reads tutor, and approximately 150 students in grades K-5 are being tutored through this program. The tutors had two initial training sessions in the fall and have on-going training and supervision by teachers in the scool and their Education Department supervisor, Sally Mackenzie. Generally the tutors work one-on-one with a small group of children for about a half hour each session. Each tutor works in 4 or 5 different classrooms and thus with about 4-10 different students. The tutoring arrangements are flexible: tutors work on reading and writing across the curriculum, but the goal is to provide substantial support for students who are reading below grade level so that the challenge of helping children read well and independently by the end of third grade will be met.
SAINT JOSEPH'S COLLEGE
President David B. House
America Reads Contact: Allyson Streeter
278 Whites Bridge Rd.
Standish, ME
Email: astreete@sjcme.edu
Telephone: (207) 893-7793
Fax: (207) 893-6605
Number of Students: 10
Number of Districts: 3
The America Reads Program at Saint Joseph's College is aimed at the rural communities surrounding the college. Programs are coordinated by college students in classes during school hours, at the Public Library on weekends, at two schools after hours, in the Public Housing Authority Educational Center after hours and in several other community agencies. An AmeriCorps VISTA as well as a transportation grant from the Corporation for National Service provide resources to the program. The Community Service director at Saint Joseph's College, Erin Swezey, is very involved in recruiting students, and planning meetings and trainings for community partners to share resources and plan for community building.
UNITY COLLEGE
President William Hess
America Reads Contact: Sarah Demers
HC 78 Box1
Unity, ME
Email: sdemers@unity.unity.edu
Telephone: (207) 948-3131 ext. 273
Fax: (207) 948-6277
Number of Districts: 1, SAD 3. Covers Unity, Troy, Thorndike
The America Reads program here at Unity College is new this year (98 - 99). We currently have 3 work study tutors working in three different schools. Our tutors work with the reading recover programs of each school. Our biggest challenges have been finding student and faculty interest, and finding resources to help fund the program. We are located in a very rural area of Maine and the school system we work with is one of the least funded by the state. These realities also present many challenges. Overall though, the town members are enthusiastic about the program.
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MAINE
President Richard Pattenaude
America Reads Contact: Dr. Margo Wood
218 Bailey Hall
Gorham, ME 04038
Email: mwood@usm.maine.edu
Telephone: 207-780-5070
Fax: 207-780-5315
Number of Students: 20
Number of Districts: 3
A collaborative effort between The University of Southern Maine and the Portland (ME) public schools, Project Story Boost is an experimental, cost-effective intervention for "at risk" kindergarten children who have had limited exposure to storybooks and who lack basic understandings about print. Those children for whom English is a second language may have limited English proficiency as well. Identified by their teachers at the beginning of the school year, these children are taken aside and read to, individually or in pairs, three or four days a week by trained volunteers. The readers also engage the children in book discussions and retelling activities. Begun in 1993 with twelve kindergartners and two readers, the program has grown to serve nearly 100 children per year in four inner city schools and has expanded to other school districts as well. The majority of readers are USM work study students participating in the America Reads Challenge. The training tape, "Reading Aloud: an Early Literacy Intervention" is available for purchase ($17.00) through the University. For more information or an order form e-mail mwood@usm.maine.edu.
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This page last updated May 14, 1999 (lw/pjk)