The America Reads Challenge (ARC) program, part of AmeriCorps, has the primary goal of ensuring that all children can read proficiently by the end of third grade. In Mississippi, the ARC program is referred to as the America Reads-Mississippi (ARM) program. In 1999, 37 schools in 25 school districts participated in this program, sponsored by 3…

In September 1978, the Lenoir City (Tennessee) school system initiated in two elementary schools a volunteer tutoring program called the Retirement Power in Education Project (RPIE). Fourteen volunteers, including twelve retirees, were trained to use Laubach reading materials in tutoring fourth and seventh graders. In evaluating the project one…

Book Buddies is a community volunteer tutorial that began in Charlottesville, Virginia in the early 1990s as a cooperative effort between the University of Virginia, the Charlottesville City Schools and the Charlottesville community. A replication of Book Buddies was designed in fall of 1997 for two elementary schools in Millville, Virginia. A…

Describes the Senior Adult Volunteer Program of the Howard County, Maryland, public school system, which brings older adults and middle school students together in a tutoring situation. Reports that the program has produced student gains in both the cognitive and affective domains. (FL)

City Year is a community-service program based in Boston (Massachusetts) that has frequently been praised as a model for other service programs. In City Year, young people of all races and from differing backgrounds work together for 9 months on public service programs ranging from physical labor to tutoring. Volunteers receive a small stipend and…

The America Reads challenge makes a national commitment to the goal that every child will read independently and well by the end of the third grade. The primary means of achieving this goal is to place one million volunteers in schools to tutor children in reading. However, little is known about the effectiveness of using volunteer tutors in the…

The goal of this program was to reach an unserved group of non-literate adults with limited English proficiency through the provision of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) tutoring by local library and community literacy programs. Nine area resource teachers and a master teacher trainer provided training for 211 teachers and volunteer tutors who,…

This document comprises the first volume of a three-volume study, mandated by the Augustus F. Hawkins-Robert T. Stafford Elementary and Secondary School Improvement Amendments of 1988, on domestic and foreign tutoring programs for disadvantaged elementary and secondary students that involve college students. This volume summarizes the results of…

The pilot project described and evaluated in this report was conducted at Olympic College to test the assignment of volunteer classroom assistants under the supervision of Adult Basic Education (ABE) and English as a Second Language (ESL) instructors to help individualize classroom instruction. Section I introduces the project, the college and its…

A $100,000 appropriation for fiscal year 1986 directed the Washington State Board for Community College Education and the state's Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish a pilot program for coordinating the efforts of volunteer literacy tutors. The 12 projects funded by the program recruited and trained 1,473 volunteer tutors and…

Tutoring is recommended as one of several possible ways to help keep students in school. This report is based on a literature review and conversations with researchers, educators, and students. In spite of recent reductions in dropout rates, they remain high, especially in large urban schools. An extensive body of literature supports the…

This report describes and evaluates an adult and family literacy education program at the Tom Green County Library (Texas). The project's objectives were to: provide a full-time library staff member to establish, coordinate, and promote an information, referral, and follow-up support system for literacy students; offer two in-service sessions in…

Describes the Charlottesville (Virginia) Volunteer Tutorial, a one-on-one tutorial program that promotes the literacy development of young children and involves a wide range of community volunteers. Suggests that the program offers one model of an affordable, alternative form of early intervention. (SR)

The report describes activities of the Fort Berthold Reservation Public Library (North Dakota) Literacy Program to meet six objectives for the 1988-89 project year. The program was designed specifically to promote literacy among three Native American tribes, the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara. Objectives included acquisition of a library literacy…

This report describes and evaluates an adult literacy education program, Project LEAD (Literacy Education and Development), at the Adrian Public Library (Michigan). The project's objectives were to: recruit functionally illiterate adults and provide reading instruction to improve literacy skills; recruit and train 65 additional volunteer tutors…