AR Kids Read helps kids catch up on literacy skills
Nancy Robinson and Siobhan Carpenter spend an hour or two each week developing relationships with elementary-age children while helping them learn to read through AR Kids Read.
On average, students’ standardized test scores in reading increase 22% after just one semester, according to AR Kids Read Executive Director Kathy French, and reading helps improve performance across other subjects as well.
But there’s more — Carpenter and the pupil she tutors bond over stories about weekends spent roller skating and other adventures and day-to-day happenings on the days they meet to work on reading.
“It’s kind of a relationship-based tutoring,” says Carpenter, who lives in Cabot and tutors a student at Baseline Elementary in the Little Rock School District. “I think that part is important, just to be somebody there to let them know, ‘Hey, I care about you.’”
French says more volunteers are needed.
“Currently, about 60% of Arkansas kids are reading below grade level,” French says. “So, in a class of 25 students that means that only 10 (or fewer) of the kids are where they need to be.”
AR Kids Read served 136 students through mostly virtual tutoring, during school and after school, during the fall semester.
French expects the number of pupils tutored during the spring to increase by as much as 50%, depending on the course of the pandemic and the number of volunteers available.
“The kids have had significant challenges with learning during covid-19 and our tutors make such a difference in helping them make up for lost ground,” she says. “The teachers are working terribly hard and have been stretched thin, so our goal is to come alongside them and provide extra hands — and hearts — to give kids the skills and extra attention they need.”
Robinson, who lives in Pulaski County, has volunteered in schools for about 20 years. This year, she’s working with two fifth-graders at Booker T. Washington Elementary and J.A. Fair K-8 Preparatory Academy in the Little Rock School District.
“I’ve always had two students come to think of it, but I volunteered for another school because they needed tutors,” Robinson says. “It’s so simple. It’s very easy to do and we’re only talking about 50 minutes — not even quite an hour — once a week.”
This fall, because of covid-19 restrictions, AR Kids Read tutors met with students virtually. There was school staff on hand to help with technical concerns and to supervise students, says Robinson, though most of the students were well-versed on Zoom, the technology tutors used to interact with students.
French says a virtual program will continue even after tutors begin working with students in school buildings again in January.
“This model works quite well for our community enrollment students,” says French of the virtual program. “It’s also really cool because we have tutors from out-of-state who are extremely committed and passionate about helping AR Kids, so this gives them a way to continue to support our kids even from a distance.”
Volunteers commit to a minimum of one hour a week for 10 weeks of one-on-one time with a student.
Robinson appreciates the support she gets from AR Kids Read personnel, who sometimes drop in on Zoom sessions to see if there’s anything they can help with.
Robinson says the program makes it easy for volunteers to work with children.
“You get training on BookNook, the system that we’re using, and on how to talk with the kids,” she says. “And, of course, we all get background checks because you don’t want people who are not safe to be communicating with the kids.”
It’s rewarding work, says Robinson, who retired from her job as a planner for AT&T in 2001 and co-founded an organization honoring Josephine Pankey, a Black philanthropist and teacher.
Students take a placement test when they start with AR Kids Read and there are assessments as they move through sessions, showing whether they met the learning objectives and identifying specific skills they need to work on.
“Different kids have different goals,” Carpenter says. “Some kids struggle at decoding, sounding them out. Other kids can decode words all day but they’re not comprehending what they’re reading, so with them we’re working on comprehension and vocabulary, things like that.”
Carpenter’s children were enrolled in virtual school before the covid-19 pandemic and she was their learning coach while working for a private speech therapy program that contracted with schools across the nation.
Many of the children she worked with were autistic or had speech articulation or phonology errors, which she notes can lead to reading challenges.
“Since it’s speech and language therapy and reading is language-based, it’s all linked together,” she says. “I loved it. I love teaching.”
Carpenter took a break from work during 2021-22 to focus on family, but tutoring through AR Kids Read allows her to exercise her professional skills.
“I really enjoy it. It brings joy, the kids are great, the teachers are great. I’ve had nothing but a positive experience with it,” Carpenter says. “It’s a very practical way to just help kids. Helping kids learn to read — I don’t think it gets more practical than that.”