The reading performances of lower elementary pupils mentored
by the Taylor Reading Corps are improving, according to a annual study done on
the program by Wayne State University.
Since the TRC program has yet to expand to its fullest extent
– which will eventually include children from preschool through the third grade
in the Taylor School District – some data research cannot be considered totally
complete.
However, the independent WSU study, performed by Dr. Kate
Roberts, an assistant professor of Reading, Language and Literature, does note
some interesting improvements for TRC-mentored children. For instance, last
year’s pupils, after completing the first grade mentored by volunteer adults
supplied by the TRC, registered a growth level of 7.75 – a 285 percent increase
from where they started the year. Non-reading corps children, while registering
a higher 10.18 growth level, actually grew at a lesser percentage (214 percent)
than pupils in the program.
“The children not participating in the (Reading Corps)
continued to outscore the children enrolled in the (program) in the first
grade,” Roberts wrote in the study. “The gap between the groups is slightly
less … it’s as if the (Reading Corps) group is scoring 71.51 points for every
100 scored by the non-RC group.
“However, and importantly, the (Reading Corps) group is now
growing at a faster rate than the (non-mentored) group when it comes to reading
level, which has to happen for them to catch up (to the others in their grade
level).”
Roberts’ recent findings reinforce what her first study
found. That study, released last fall, noted that TRC-mentored students were
“closing the gap” on their more academically reading peers in the
district. Then-Taylor School
District School Improvement Coordinator Emily Graham, a former member of the
TRC board of directors, noted at that time that reading corps’ pupils were not
only improving in reading, but educators in the district noticed the creation
of important bonds between the pupils and their adult mentors, who were
invested in their academic success.
There is no doubt that the TRC objectives – to make certain
that every Taylor child is reading at grade level or above by the end of the
third grade – are long-term missions. As Graham said last fall after reading
WSU’s first analysis of the program, “We have to remember that the group we are
targeting (the youngest of the elementary school non-proficient readers) has
been consistently falling behind their peers for years.” Even with the TRC’s
mentoring intervention, those non-proficient readers are not going to catch up
in a short period of time.
Since last fall’s report from Roberts was done on a group
that spent less than a full year in the TRC mentoring program, it was
considered much more incomplete than this year’s version, which offered pre-
and post-intervention analysis at the kindergarten and first-grade levels.
In her summary, Roberts noted that, while children involved
in the TRC program were, on average, still reading behind their peers, they
were growing “a bit more quickly” in terms of reading level during their second
year in the program. “That is what needs to happen for them to catch up,” she
noted.
Future independent reports by WSU’s Roberts are certain to
shed more light on the TRC program, which was the intent of 23rd
District Court Judge Geno Salomone, the creator of the program. He sought to
not only form a non-profit organization that recruited, trained and supervised
adult reading mentors to aid the Taylor School District, but to constantly
analyze the program’s success through an independent organization.
The TRC is currently mentoring children in the preschool,
first- and second-grade levels. It will expand to its fullest capacity next
year, when it will enlarge to include third-grade pupils. National studies have
shown that third grade is a key to proficient reading. Reading proficiency
after the third-grade level affects high school graduation rates, according to
an Annie E. Casey Foundation (2010) study:
- ·
24 percent of below-basic readers at the end of
grade three drop out or fail to finish high school on time, meanwhile …
- ·
… Only 9 percent of students with basic reading
skills at the end of the third grade drop out or fail to finish high school on
time and …
- ·
… Only
4 percent of proficient readers at the end of the third grade drop out or fail
to finish high school on time
- ·
The U.S. national adult illiteracy rate was
lingering around 18 percent, according to the Pew Foundation, 2010
- ·
The Detroit metro adult illiteracy rate was tracked
at an astounding 47 percent, according to that same Pew report
Those type of numbers are reflective in the Taylor School
District’s 2011 MEAP reports. With not proficient rates climbing toward 60
percent at the end of the third grade, Taylor’s high schools reflected the same
type of numbers during the Michigan Merit Exam test for juniors (Kennedy and
Truman nearing the 60th percentile in not proficient readers; Titan
at 80 percent). Taylor’s high school drop out rate was 6.1 percent; it’s graduation
rate, 69 percent.
The TRC overall program will be heavily aided by a $20,000
annual grant through the PNC Foundation’s “Grow Up Great” program, which is the
main reason the corps expanded its program into the preschool level. Reading
improvement at the preschool level will usually reflect positively in the first
grade, for example. Not only is PNC funding that the entire preschool program,
but PNC employees from banks across the Downriver area are serving as reading
mentors for Taylor preschoolers.
The TRC is currently serving nearly 360 children, but it
could be mentoring more. According to reading corps’ statistics, about 180
pupils still need tutors. The TRC is recruiting and training volunteers on a
constant basis, but the need remains high.
If you are interested
in becoming a volunteer mentor or would like to donate to the TRC, email the
organization at info@taylorreadingcorps.org or telephone (313) 769-6730. You can also
click on the TRC Website at www.taylorreadingcorps.org,; write to the TRC, PO Box 276, Taylor,
MI, 48180; or stop by the reading corps office, 22755 Wick (inside the Sax Pharmacy plaza) during regular
basis hours.
