TAYLOR READING CORPS: Study shows mentored students are improving

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 23^rd 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 60^th 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.