January 7, 2015

Older adults to tutor struggling students

By Caitlin McGlade, The Republic

Photo: Emmanuel Lozano/The Republic

This school season brought the first day of school for an unusual crowd: adults 50 and older. About 70 of them are hitting the books at 10 Phoenix elementary schools to help bring first-, second- and third-graders up to speed in reading. Organizers hope to expand the program to 20 more schools by 2020.

The volunteers are part of a nationwide AARP program that sends trained tutors to inner-city schools to help struggling kids catch up to their grade level. More than 1,730 tutors serve about 27,100 students in 21 other cities across the country.

Locally, schools in Tempe have hosted the program since 2006 and have seen success. During the 2012 to 2013 school year, 60 percent of the students who rated below grade level at the year’s onset had improved by the end of the year, according to AARP.

“It’s an encore in their lives … to give back. The tutors had butterflies in their stomachs as if they were going to school for the first time like a child would have,” said Mary Bowden, a site coordinator for the program.

Leaders said the project, called Experience Corps, helps fulfill the initiative called Read On Phoenix that helps third-graders achieve proficiency. The state requires that third-graders meet their grade level before moving to the fourth grade.

To read more click here.

Filed under: Academic Learning Centers,K-8

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