Virginia Beach READS has been working hard since 2012 to identify our community’s strengths and needs in the core areas of school readiness, absenteeism, summer learning loss, and grade level reading. We know that collaboration across multiple government, school, and community partners will be key to successfully achieving collective impact on the issue of third grade reading proficiency. We also recognize the importance of citizen engagement to our efforts. Read below about three exciting new programs that have grown out of our coalition’s commitment to grade-level reading. Each of these programs incorporates the essential elements of collaboration and citizen engagement.
I knew that the tutoring sessions had been not only an educational experience for the children, but also an emotionally enriching one, when I noticed how disappointed they were about the sessions ending in May. Our relationship was a testament to the fact that in the process of helping a child understand the value of reading, the relationships we build with them are crucial. It probably goes without saying, but I learned just as much as the children did.
The award-winning Virginia Beach READS mentor-tutoring program pairs struggling first grade readers with volunteer tutors. The tutors provide intensive yet fun literacy tutoring sessions twice per week for the school year, in order to help students become confident, successful readers. In partnership with Virginia Beach City Public Schools, volunteer tutors received extensive training in both effective instructional methods and techniques for increasing student engagement. To date, over 150 volunteers have served as tutors and 165 students have been tutored through the program at Bayside, Point O’View, and White Oaks Elementary School. The program will be expanding to Luxford and Shelton Park Elementary School in the 2016-2017 school year. In addition to the in-school tutoring, an important component of the program is a strong home-school connection. Virginia Beach READS gifts each student in the program a free book every month over the course of the school year. Research shows that access to books in the home is crucial for sustaining gains made during the instructional days.
A $4,000 grant from the Community Leadership Partners of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation enabled Virginia Beach READS to purchase high-interest children’s books for all first graders enrolled in the tutoring program.
Shortly after the launch of the tutoring program in October 2014, Virginia Beach READS partnered with Barnes & Noble Booksellers to provide additional funding and student books.
In March 2016, the program was awarded the Virginia Mentoring Partnership’s Outstanding Mentoring Program of the Year. The following month, the program was awarded a Model Partnership by the school division.
Apply to be a volunteer tutor for the 2016-2017 school year
In 2014, GrowSmart began to celebrate NEA’s (National Education Association) ‘Read Across America Day’ with early childhood programs. Read Across America Day is a day to celebrate and foster a love of reading for children. GrowSmart celebrates every March, as a way to kick-off National Reading Month. In that first year, 34 sites were visited by 136 guest reader volunteers and every participating classroom received a copy of a free book. Now, every child in a participating center receives their own book! As the years have passed, we have strategically grown the event to incorporate more early childhood programs. This event visits private childcare centers, every Virginia Beach Head Start, every Virginia Beach City Public School pre-k classroom, Parks & Recreation Centers with early childhood programs, Seatack Elementary’s Kindergarten, Virginia Beach Public Library’s Early Literacy Outreach sites, and more.
Virginia Beach READS will continue this event for the City of Virginia Beach for years to come! This event is a piece in our local Campaign for Grade Level Reading. For more information, contact Devin Cowhey, GrowSmart Development Specialist at 757-385-6434 or dcowhey@vbgov.com.
In 2013, the Virginia Beach Public Library and Virginia Beach City Public Schools partnered to bring the Library’s Summer Reading Challenge and activities to students at six Title 1 schools. After participating in the 8-week program, the students’ fall Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) scores were compared with their end-of-year scores from the prior school year. An amazing 77% of the children maintained or improved their reading skills, and 72% were reading on grade level at the end of the program!
During the summer of 2014, the initial success of the partnership program led to the expansion to an additional five Title 1 schools, for a total of 11 Title 1 elementary schools. While we don’t yet have the data from the 2014 program, we anticipate successful results from another summer of reading enrichment fun.
Program Details:
In addition to the Title I Summer Reading Partnership, VBPL sponsors an annual Summer Reading Challenge for all children. The Library also holds multiple story times for various age groups over the summer. Visit your branch library or find details on the VBPL’s website for more details.
: Bringing together City, Schools, and the Community for a common mission.
GrowSmart’s mission is to promote and improve the healthy development, school readiness, and reading proficiency of young children, ages 0-8, in Virginia Beach.
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