Literacy program honored by the White House to be highlighted at Aiton Elementary

Contact: Karen Gardner, Executive Director, Reading Partners Washington, DC
(202) 701-9110  |  karen.gardner@readingpartners.org

Program considered to be a true community collaboration in DC

(Washington, DC) October 19, 2016 — Reading Partners — a literacy program honored this week at the White House for proving to boost reading levels for at risk students – will hold a demonstration of its practices and community partners thisThursday, October 20, at Aiton Elementary School.

Media are invited to get a first-hand look at both the Reading Partners program as well as some of the important community and district partnerships that are helping drive program and student success. The Reading Partners program at Aiton Elementary is aligned to DCPS’ Empowering Males of Color (EMOC) initiative and is supported by both DCPS and the DC Public Education Fund. In addition to remarks by Principal Malaika Golden, Thursday’s event will include representatives from EMOC and Reading Partners.

Reading Partners was among a select group of organizations from across the country invited to highlight evidence of program success at the “White House My Brother’s Keeper What Works Showcase” on October 17. The goal of the interactive science-fair-style event was to showcase a broad range of program models that have demonstrated evidence of impact across My Brother’s Keeper’s cradle-to-college-and-career goals. Reading Partners was selected for the event because the organization has shown a promising level of evidence as an intervention helping students achieve the critical milestone of reading at grade level by third grade. Rigorous, third-party research has shown that Reading Partners boosted three different measures of reading proficiency over a control group of students who also received supplemental reading services.

As with all 14 of Reading Partners’ regions across the country, Reading Partners Washington, DC, is successful because of the countless community members and organizations that collaborate in an effort to ensure that all students have the opportunity to read proficiently and reach their full potential. In the 2016-17 school year, Reading Partners Washington, DC aims to provide individualized literacy support to nearly 1,000 K-4 students with the help of more than 1,150 community tutors who will volunteer at 20 DC-area schools.

Come learn more about a program spotlighted by The White House and some of the critical partnerships that are helping make it available to more students in the DC area in the 2016-17 school year.

More information:

• Address: Aiton Elementary School, 533 48th Pl. NE, Washington, DC 20019
• Date / time: Thursday, October 20 at 12:00 pm EST
• Learn more about Reading Partners, Washington, DC at staging.readingpartners.org/location/washington-dc
• For questions about Reading Partners, Washington, DC, please contact:
  • Karen Gardner, Executive Director, Reading Partners Washington, DC,
    (202) 701-9110, karen.gardner@readingpartners.org

About Reading Partners

Reading Partners empowers students to succeed in reading and in life by engaging community volunteers to provide one-on-one tutoring. The national nonprofit organization will provide proven, individualized literacy tutoring to more than 11,000 elementary school students in under-resourced schools across ten states and the District of Columbia in the 2016-17 school year. Visit staging.readingpartners.org, or connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, to learn more.