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[WEST VIRGINIA] Samples of America Reads Challenge Federal Work-Study Programs and National Service Initiatives
ANTIOCH UNIVERSITY
President Toni Murdock
America Reads Contact: Beverly Purrington
2326 6th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98121
Email: beverly_purrington@mist.seattleantioch.edu
Telephone: 206 441-5352 ext 5611
Fax: 206 441-3307
Number of FWS Students: 4
Number of Districts: 1
Tutoring takes place at Thurgood Marshall and First Place elementary schools both during and after school. Tutors use books from a children's collection we are building through donations from children; Antioch staff, students, and alums; and a grant from a local bank. In addition to FWS tutors, we have volunteer tutors from the neighborhood as well as students and staff from Antioch University. We have several projects that involve children in community service. First, our children's library collection was initiated by a group of 10 year old children who wanted to donate books of their own to be used for tutoring. In another project, fifth grade children at First Place (a school for homeless children) read to younger Head Start children.
BELLEVUE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
President B. Jean Floten
America Reads Contact: Jane Foster
3000 Landerholm Circle SE
Bellevue, WA
Email: jfoster@bcc.ctc.edu
Telephone: (425) 641-2476
Fax: (425) 641-2230
PUGET SOUND CHRISTIAN COLLEGE
President Dr. Allan Dunbar
America Reads Contact: Joann Maxson
410 4th Avenue North
Edmonds, WA
Email: psccfina@gte.net
Telephone: 425 775-8686
Fax: 425 775-8688
Number of FWS Students: 8
Number of Districts: 2
Our tutors are serving in two school districts, working with elementary-age children from first through third grades. The tutoring occurs within the individual classrooms as well as in the reading specialists' room. The tutors primarily work in the early afternoon hours, during regular school sessions. One of the elementary schools are focusing on "literacy" this year and are especially excited to use our tutors. The program is running efficiently, with support from both the school districts, as well as the individual tutors.
SEATTLE PACIFIC UNIVERSITY
President Phil Eaton
America Reads Contact: Paula Payne
3307 3rd AVE W
Seattle, WA 98119
Email: ppayne@spu.edu
Website: www.spu.edu
Telephone: (206) 281-2471
Fax: (206) 281-2835
SPOKANE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
President Dr. James Williams
America Reads Contact: Linda Benthien
1810 North Greene Street
Spokane, WA
Email: lbenthien@scc.spokane.cc.wa.us
Website: http://www.scc.spokane.cc.wa.us
Telephone: 509-533-8007
Fax: 509-533-8681
Number of FWS Students: 20
Number of Districts: 10
We have an AmeriCorps worker that I work with. He first came to my student orientation in the fall and together we explained the program to the students, having them let us know if they wanted to participate. Then John (Americorps Worker) did the training for my Work Study Students. The students must go through a background check prior to going to work.
Our students are meeting this project with great enthusiasm and are really enjoying working with the children. We have approximately 20 students working at 10 different school districts in the area.
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
President Dr. Richard L. McCormick
America Reads Contact: Eric S. Godfrey
105 Schmitz Hall, Box 355880
Seattle, WA 98195
Email: egodfrey@u.washington.edu
Website: www.washington.edu
Telephone: 206/685-0128
Fax: 206/685-1338
Number of FWS Students: 125
Number of Districts: 13
By Spring Quarter 1998, the University of Washington hopes to have 150 work study students participating in the America Reads program and is aiming for at least 200 for the 1998-99 academic year. The UW Office of Student Financial Aid, in partnership with the UW College of Education, hired a graduate student assistant last fall, who contacted the elementary schools where student teachers from the UW are placed and invited them to submit job descriptions. Two professors from the College of Education donated their time to conduct a 6-hour training program, three different times in order to accommodate the schedules of participating tutors, as well as two Saturday "reflection sessions." The College of Education has also hired a graduate research assistant to survey and interview all sectors taking part this year (UW students, teachers, elementary students and their parents) to evaluate the program and provide some measurements. A package of five picture books was purchased for 150 tutors to borrow for the year, as well as some materials for use by the professors doing the training, and the work study graduate assistant is publishing a quarterly newsletter for those participating or interested in America Reads.
The 125 students currently tutoring are placed in 41 different elementary schools and three private non-profit agencies, working mostly in the primary grades. The UW acts as the employer of record for students placed in the public schools and handles the payroll, but the individual schools perform their own screening and background checks, supervise the students on-site, and co-sign the work study timesheets. Students perform tutoring activities in a variety of ways, primarily one-on-one, but also in small groups and in classroom activities, assisting reading support teachers, and helping in after-school and Saturday special classes. The Office of Student Financial Aid and the College of Education are now in the process of identifying and developing summer placements in the Seattle School District, outlying districts, and private non-profit groups, to allow students to work up to full-time during the break.
WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY
America Reads Contact: Melanie Brown
Community Service Learning Center
Pullman, WA 99164-7204
E-mail: melanieb@wsunix.wsu.edu
Telephone: (509) 335-5401
Fax: (509) 335-3400
At WSU, America Reads has been partnered with an existing campus-based tutoring program called Student Literacy Corps.
America Reads tutors (paid and volunteer) have been recruited in a variety of ways. Volunteer tutors are recruited through classroom presentations, advertising (in the form of brochures, flyers, posters, newspaper advertisements, etc.) and referrals. Paid tutors, lead tutors, and the America Reads program coordinator, have been recruited through postings in the campus Temporary Employment Office, the Career Services Office, relevant academic departments, and a classified advertisement placed in the campus newspaper.
A graduate student from the Department of English to develop and coordinate the America Reads program at WSU. This student has a background in teaching and education in addition to experience in training parents and teachers in writing literacy.
All student tutors are provided with the option of a 4-5 hour (two evening) intensive training or a one semester, one credit (2 hour per week) training seminar. While the latter covers both theoretical and practical issues in tutoring, the former focuses on the practical skills needed to tutor in the four basic areas of reading, writing, social studies, and math.
Pullman is a small town with a good bus system. There aren't many transportation issues. Those tutors hired to work in a rural school, 15 miles out of town, are required to have a driver's licence. The Community Service Learning Center (the umbrella organization for the Literacy Corps and America Reads) has a van that can be signed out for those tutors who do not have their own car. Car pooling has not worked because of conflicting schedules.
The most innovative program to come out of the America Reads initiative at WSU is called Pen Friends. In this program, a group of thirty four WSU student volunteers have been trained as correspondents to write to thirty nine grade one students with whom they are paired'. Once a week, a small group of these volunteers go to the two grade one classes involved and help the young students read their letters and write their responses to their pen friends'. By all accounts, from teachers and volunteers, this program is enormously successful. One student volunteer has summed it up this way: "Being a pen friend has given me the opportunity to work with kids and encourage them to do something that will benefit them. I love knowing that just a simple thing as writing them a letter once a week will help them with their reading and writing."
WHITMAN COLLEGE
President Thomas E. Cronin
America Reads Contact: Dawn Hardt Lehman
345 Boyer Avenue
Walla Walla, Washington
Email: lehmandh@whitman.edu
Website: http://www.whitman.edu/offices_departments/america_reads/newmain.html
Telephone: (509) 526-4716
Fax: (509) 527-5934
Number of FWS Students: 40
The Whitman America Reads program has 40 students, 9 of whom are AmeriCorps members, tutoring in 10 elementary schools and 2 agencies in Walla Walla County. Tutor positions range from work with pre-reading kindergarten students to literacy testing in a 4th grade computor lab. Most tutoring is done on a one-on-one basis, with some small group and full classroom work. A handful of tutors serve in after school programs which focus on literacy homework and general literacy enhancement. Some of the positions focus on promoting literacy with ESL and special needs children. All tutors in the Whitman America Reads program recieved an initial 4 hour training course covering basic strategies and techniques to support struggling readers. At mid-semester Whitman held a 2 hour session to reflect on the stengths and weaknesses of the program and cover additional reading strategies. End of semester evaluations completed by schools and tutors, showed very positive support of the program while helping identify a few problematic situations which still needed follow up. One result of the evaluations was the identification of additional training topics tutors were interested in covering. This led to 10 specialized workshops for the tutors: working with ADHD children, ESL and cultural issues, disipline staregies, and small group literacy instruction. The workshops were organized through special efforts of the ESD Readiness to Learn Program, volunteer support by Walla Walla School District teachers and funding through the Blue Mountain Action Council AmeriCorps grant. In addition, workshops for the school district employees and other reading projects were also made available to tutors. The workshops have been a tremendous opportunity for tutor development. Such coordination with various local school, agency and higher education entities has been beneficial to the overall program.
One interesting situation which has come up involves tutor observation of classroom techniques they are uncomfortable with. A few tutors were placed in classrooms where they did not feel fully utilized or were at odds with the teaching style of the teacher. Adjustments were made in such situations to clarify the objectives of the programs and address personality conflicts. These issues withstanding, some tutors still felt uncomfortable with classroom situations where they observed teaching styles which seemed to diminish student self-esteem. It is not the intention of the program that tutors become watchdogs of the educational system. However, questions about what tutors should do when they observe undesirable classroom situations arose. The situations are fairly isolated and represent a small minority of the program's overall tutor experience which has been quite positive. The issue, however, exists. End of the year meetings with individual schools will address how tutors may appropriately express their concerns about uncomfortable classroom situations. The program hopes to develop a constructive model in which tutors will be able to express their observations and have them taken seriously.
YAKIMA VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
President: Dr. Linda Kaminski
America Reads Contact: Marlene Cousens, Reading/Humanities Instructor
Email: Mcousens@ctc.edu.us
Telephone: (509) 574-4997
Number of tutors: 300 plus
Sites: Public and Private Schools, Mission, ABE Centers
YVCC America Reads tutors over 900 children in the Yakima County. We have over 300 College students tutoring for us. All 300 tutors under go a 10 week training program in reading and literacy instruction. We also do socks and mitten drives for the children and we also buy school supplies for the elementary kids. Our tutoring program is six years old and we offer two classes where we train tutors on campus for credit and then have onsite trainings for tutors at the different schools. These programs bring about the changes in the children as well as in the tutors as each discovers something new and valuable about themselves and the world.
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