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

Samples of America Reads Challenge Federal Work-Study Programs and National Service Initiatives

ALLEGHENY UNIVERSITY OF THE HEALTH SCIENCES
President Sherif S. Abdelhak
America Reads Contact: Diana C. Williams
MS 526 Broad and Vine
Philadelphia, PA
Email: williamsd@auhs.edu
Telephone: (215) 762-7682
Fax: (215) 762-6199
Number of FWS Students: 35
Number of Districts: Philadelphia

We tutor 80 kindergarten through third grade students in three elementary school - 2 during the day and 1 extended day program. Tutors are undergraduate and graduate students. All have completed a 6 hour training course. We have developed our own curriculum and library of books based on 6 health related topics - general health, physical health, mental health, hygiene, nuitrition, and safety. Each tutor has a bag of supplies including construction paper, scissors, markers, clay, crayons, colored pencils, etc.

Each tutor must complete a criminal and child abuse background check. These are paid for by the University, which actively supports supports the America Reads Challenge Tutors are encouraged to impart a love of reading to their student(s) as well as some healthcare information. The tutors work one-on-one in the classroom or in a separate room. At the end of each semester the child is given a book of his/her very own that have been donated through book drives in the school.

BLOOMSBURG UNIVERSITY
President Jessica Kozloff
America Reads Contact: Chris Cherrington
104 Navy Hall
Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania
Email: cherring@csrlink.net
Telephone: 717-389-4094
Fax: 717-389-3980
Number of Students: 25
Number of Districts: 1

During the 1997-98 academic year our tutors worked with 50 children, grades K-4. Work-study students and volunteers received eight hours of intensive literacy training from college faculty and graduate assistants. Every tutor received a handbook with guidelines and materials for conducting the lessons.

Vans transported tutors to Central Columbia Elementary School every Tuesday and Thursday morning. Graduate students served as literacy coordinators who prepared lesson plans and supervised all the tutorial sessions. A parent workshop was held in April as a culminating activity for the year.

COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF PHILADELPHIA
President Dr. Ronald Williams
America Reads Contact:  Ms. Janice Borlandoe
1700 Spring Garden Street
Philadelphia, PA
Email:  jborlandoe@ccp.cc.pa.us
Website: inet.ccp.cc.pa.us
Telephone: (215) 751-8160
Fax: (215) 496-6192
Number of Students: 5
Districts: Philadelphia

Community College of Philadelphia has adopted three elementary schools in the City of Philadelphia.  Community College of Philadelphia students provide tutoring assistance to third grade students at Lea, Bache-Martin, and Waring elementary schoools.  Additionally, our program emphasizes support of the "One Hundred Book Challenge," an effective strategy designed to increase reading proficiency among elementary school youth.

Student tutors are recruited by the College's Community Involvement Office.  This Office focuses on increasing the opportunities for -- and value of -- volunteerism to build skills, gain needed work experience, and contribute to our needed work experience, and contribute to our communities.  Addressing the literacy needs within our community has fostered significant collaboration between the College and various agencies, including the newly established "Philadelphia Reads" office.  "Philadelphia Reads" leads a consortia of educational institutions and agencies in a variety of activities focused on literacy.  For further information about this program or other services offered by the College's Community Involvement Center, please call 215-751-8165.

GETTYSBURG COLLEGE
President Gordon A. Haaland
America Reads Contact: Ron Shunk
300 North Washington Street
Gettysburg, PA
Email: haaland@gettysburg.edu
Website: www.gettysburg.edu/
Telephone: 717-337-6010
Fax: 717-337-6008
Number of FWS Students: 25
Number of Districts: 1

Gettysburg College has formed a collaborative effort locally with the Gettysburg Area School District. Tutoring is provided by Federal Work-Study students to approximately 400 students in grades K thru 3 of two elementary schools in the schools. Twenty-five Work-Study students participate. Training is provided by reading specialists and principals in the elementary schools. Evaluation is performed by the school district personnel. So far it is evaluated as an unqualified success. Materials are provided to the tutors by the school district.

Local media have written several articles about the program including coverage of the recent Read Across America program which used Dr. Seuss' Birthday as a theme. One hundred young children came to the student union building on campus for cake and ice cream. Students read Dr. Seuss stories to them and each received a book. One young man celebrating his fourth birthday blew out the candles.

KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY
President Dr. David E. McFarland
America Reads Contact: Amy Dymond
281 Student Union Building
Kutztown, PA, 19530
Email: dymo7614@kutztown.edu
Telephone: (610)683-4065
Fax: (610) 683-1521
Number of FWS Students: 22
Number of Districts: 3

America Reads Program at Kutztown University is a collaboration of the Division of Student Affairs, College of Education and the participating communities. Our outreach is to Allentown, Kutztown, and Reading School Districts, which includes five elementary schools. In three schools, the tutors are placed in elementary classrooms. In the two Reading schools, the tutors work with the latchkey programs on language arts skills.

The KU America Reads students include 22 FWS students and 5 volunteers. All tutors recieve formal training prior to tutoring. The training is run by the Lehigh Valley Community Service/America Reads Consortium, which includes Allentown College of St. Francis De Sales, Cedar Crest College, Kutztown University, Lafayette college, LV Business-Education, Lehigh Carbon Community College, LVAIC, Inc., Lehigh University, Moravian College, Colonial Northampton IU 20, Muhlenberg College, Northampton Community College, Penn State University, LV Campus, Pennsylvania Campus Compact. All tutors also attend bi-weekly training/feedback meetings and are required to keep a journal.

LAFAYETTE COLLEGE
President Arthur Rothkopf
America Reads Contact: Gary Miller
Lafayette College
Easton, PA
Email: millerg@lafayette.edu
Internet Address: www.lafayette.edu/outreach/amerread.html
Telephone: 610-250-5320
Fax: 610-253-1799
Number of FWS Students: 60
Number of Districts: 1

Lafayette's America Reads tutors serve in four elementary schools in the Easton Area School District, in one pre-school and in four after-school tutoring sites. As of February, 1998 there are nearly 60 tutors, 15 of whom are also AmeriCorps members in the Education Awards program. The program is administered by the College's Community Outreach Center and supervised by an America Reads Tutoring Coordinator hired by the college. Transportation is provide in college vans and training has been provided in cooperation with seven other colleges and universities in the Lehigh Valley by the Intermediate Units that serve the school districts in our area.

LEHIGH UNIVERSITY
President Gregory Farrington
America Reads Contact: Julie De Motte/Community Service
39 University Drive
Bethlehem, PA
Email: service@lehigh.edu
URL: http://www.lehigh.edu/~service/center.html
Telephone: 610-758-4583
Fax: 610-758-6692
Number of Students: 30
Number of Districts: Bethlehem

Our program is coordinated by a part time graduate student from our College of Education. We work with several public and parochial elementary schools, and a few after school programs. Students serve as teachers assistants and they come from all acedemic disciplines. We have a 30% male participant rate and in the fall all students will also be trained in math instruction.

We coordinate trainings with 8 other colleges in our local region of the Lehigh Valley, PA.

THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY
President Graham B. Spanier
America Reads Contact: Priscilla S. Carman
102 Rackley Building
University Park, PA
Email: psc3@psu.edu
Telephone: 814-863-3777
Fax: 814-863-6108
Number of Students: 350
Number of Districts: 48

Penn State University is a statewide university with 16 campuses participating in the America Reads Challenge.  Now in its second year, approximately 350 Penn State students have worked each year as reading partners with more than 10,000 children throughout PA. Penn State's AR program has
partnered with school districts, day care centers, YMCAs, preschool programs, after-school programs, family literacy programs, libraries, housing authorities, Easter Seal Society, and Ready to Learn.  In response to new legislation enabling America Reads FWS students to work with children and their parents, our program is expanding its statewide involvement with family literacy. We have
Penn State students working in a variety of family literacy settings, including Even Start, library-based, Barbara Bush-funded family literacy, and state-funded family literacy programs.

All participants must receive 2 background clearances (criminal record/child abuse history) before working in the program.  Participants attend a two-hour orientation and four hours of initial training on successful tutoring relationships, background on children's literacy development and children's
literature, and technqiues for reading to and with children.  If participants wish to work directly with parents in family literacy programs, the site provides adult literacy training. Ongoing workshops are scheduled as needed throughout the year and a listserv provides information and resource sharing as
well as a forum for discussion and reflection.

TEMPLE UNIVERSITY
President: Peter J. Liacouras
America Reads Contact: Shirley Moy
1601 North Broad Street, Room 100
Philadelphia, PA
Email: shrlymoy@vm.temple.edu
URL: www.temple.edu/cspcd
Telephone: (215) 204-7491
Fax: (215) 204-3429
Number of Students: 200

The America Reads program at Temple University is affectionately called the Get SMART (Student Mentors And Reading Tutors) Program. Beginning in July 1997, Temple has recruited 200 undergraduate and graduate students to serve as mentors and tutors to elementary school-aged children. The Get SMART students are placed in one of 30 community-based organizations (public housing sites, neighborhood schools and after-school programs, and recreation centers) which have partnered with Temple University around the issue of family literacy.

Students are expected to attend by-weekly training sessions on a variety of topics from first aid, to child development and behavior management, to literacy/tutoring skills. Students keep a weekly log on their activities, and are involved in evaluating the project.

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
America Reads Contact: Cory Bowman
Penn Program for Public Service
133 South 36th Street, Suite 519
Philadelphia, PA, 19104

Telephone: 215-898-0289
Fax: 215-573-2799

The University of Pennsylvania has America Reads programs in local West Philadelphia public schools, day care centers and community centers. We currently have 45 federal work-study students and over 50 volunteers, and our numbers are growing each day! We have a total of five sites, each with it's own site coordinator and tutors. As of now each stie has individual training sessions for their tutors, but we are working to create a more general America Reads training programs for our tutors.

We have a staff to coordinate recruitment efforts (advertising, holding information sessions, budget matters, etc.) We also have a site coordinator at each site who conducts trainings for their tutors. These trainings are being tailored for tutoring projects in West Philadelphia with the help of our Graduate School of Education. We will update as more information is available.

We have been doing a great deal of advertising on campus. Our tactics include: postering, emails, information sessions, an article in the university newpaper.

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH
President: Mark A. Nordenberg
America Reads Contact: Katy Belski
5H16 WW Posvar Hall, University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Email: kabst110+@pitt.edu
Website: www.pitt.edu
Telephone: (412) 648-7211
Fax: (412) 648-1852
Number of Students: 100

At the University of Pittsburgh, America Reads tutors are FWS students who work in one of 12 sites around the Pittsburgh area. The program is diverse, with some tutors working in a classroom setting, others working one on one with students in reading resource rooms, and still others working with students in after-school programs. Tutor support and training is on-going. Each site has a supervisor, who is a member of that site's staff, and a liaison, who is a student leader as well as a tutor. Tutors may go to these people for help in planning lessons or with problems and questions. This program also has a full time coordinator who handles the administrative business and is also on hand to answer questions. Tutors must submit Child Abuse Clearance and a Criminal Record Check and must attend 5 to 10 hours of training before tutoring.

WIDENER UNIVERSITY
President: Robert J. Bruce
Contact: Chris Pesotski
1 University Place
Chester, PA
Email: christopher.m.pesotski@widener.edu
Telephone: 610-499-4174
Fax: 610-499-4687
Number of Students: 15
Number of Districts: 1

We have developed pilot after-school reading enrichment program in a local elementary school utilizing 15 Widener students working with 30 first to third graders. We recruited Widener students who had an interest in teaching, adn some basic classes in education. These tutors were given training by the school district on the work they were expected to do.

The students are supervised by a lead teacher and several graduate students. Our tutors have wonderful enthusiasm for their work and the youngsters have made good progress in both reading and pro-social skills development.

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This page last updated May 14, 1999 (lw/pjk)