Rock & Read
Elementary students in kindergarten through 2nd grade are at a critical point in developing their reading skills. By third and fourth grade teachers are shifting their strategies from learning to read to reading to learn. Years of Promise by the Carnegie Corporation of New York states that if children are not reading by third grade, they begin to dislike school and the downward spiral toward dropping out is accelerated. The U.S. Department of Education's Strong Families and Strong Schools states, "the single most important activity to build knowledge required for eventual success is reading aloud to a child." But, a recent study by Carnegie Institute found that more than 50% of children are not read to on a daily basis and many not at all. The Carnegie Institute feels that if parents do not have time to read to their children, the next best option is reading with a grandparent, teacher or other caring adult. Classroom teachers do not have this individualized time.
Twenty elementary schools in the Iowa City Community School District, West Liberty, Burlington and Oxford have identified a need for volunteers to assist teachers by reading to children and listening to them read. Also, West Liberty School District has up to 52% cultural diversity which results in a high portion of children learning English as a second language.
Students in kindergarten through 2nd grade who are not reading at grade level will be identified by classroom teachers as needing additional mentoring the teacher cannot provide. Each RSVP Rock & Read volunteer will be in the classroom weekly to develop reading readiness through a nurturing one-on-one relationship. RSVP volunteers will read aloud to the students or the students will read aloud to the volunteers. The Rock & Read volunteers will also provide feedback to students by applying learning techniques from their training.
Approximately 70 RSVP volunteers will serve as Rock & Read mentors in the Iowa City Community School District, West Liberty, Oxford and Burlington. Each volunteer will participate in the program at least one hour per week. In total, RSVP volunteers will work approximately 4,800 hours in 20 weeks.
School resource development staff and the RSVP director will train the Rock & Read mentors at Hills Bank in Iowa City, the corporate sponsor of Rock & Read. The training will include instruction in the developmental stages of early literacy, an explanation of the goals, how to stimulate the child intellectually and how to reinforce classroom reading. Teachers will also provide guidance by choosing books which are at the appropriate reading level and support classroom learning.
Rock & Read mentors will work with approximately 250 students over the school year helping to improve literacy. These 250 students in kindergarten through 2nd grade will also include a number of students learning English as a second language. Each student will work with a Rock & Read mentor at least once per week for 20 minutes. On average, each student will gain one-on-one mentoring each week for approximately 28 weeks.
Reading test scores at the end of the school year will show that 65% of the students working with Rock & Read mentors will achieve or surpass their current reading level. Students will also improve their attitude toward reading by modeling older adults who enjoy reading.
