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Notebook - United Way
An story from the Pensacola New Journal - June 18, 2010
By: Jean Norman
Program preps kids for kindergarten

Thirty-six volunteers are working one-on-one with 3- and 4-year-olds in Escambia County to improve kindergarten readiness scores as part of the innovative Reading Pals Summer Program.

The program is a joint venture of Every Child a Reader in Escambia, the Early Learning Coalition of Escambia County and the Escambia County School District. The Early Learning Coalition has identified 20 child care centers with children who are most in need of the one-on-one attention from dedicated Reading Pals volunteers to improve their emergent literacy skills.

“We have as many as two to three volunteers who take the students out of the class and to the library for 30 minutes,” said Anna Kay Shirah, director of Trinity Learning Center in Pensacola. “The children also get to build personal relationships. It helps their self-esteem and makes them feel special.”

Clairen Reese, executive director of ECARE, said the Reading Pals program is based on a school system in Madison, Wisconsin, that implemented a similar volunteer tutoring program for third-grade students and realized huge success in increasing the number of students reading on grade level.

Currently, nearly half of all students entering kindergarten in Escambia County do not test as fully ready to learn upon entering school. Reading Pals’ goal is to provide a literacy-rich environment and familiarize the designated at-risk children with material they will be given on the upcoming kindergarten readiness test.

To get started, the Reading Pals program reached out to other nonprofit organizations for support and funding. Funds received from United Way and a generous grant from International Paper will go toward funding books and related literacy supplies for the program.

Volunteer Henry Roberts, president of Sacred Heart Foundation Affairs, said he believed he has made a difference for his young pupil.

“From week to week she would remember what we read about the week before,” Roberts said. “Without a doubt, reading is one of the essential things a child needs to be encouraged.”

More volunteers are needed as there are still many children waiting for their Reading Pal.

“There would be nothing better than to see our volunteer numbers grow to the point that all children in need would be matched with a reading pal and be prepared to start Kindergarten ready to learn,” Reese said. “Kindergarten readiness has a direct impact on third grade FCAT reading scores, on-time high school graduation rates, and beyond.”