Mentoring Month provides perfect opportunity to take action to support early literacy in North Texas

Contact: Kaitlin Guthrow, Executive Director, Reading Partners North Texas
(972) 523-6702, contact.northtexas@staging.readingpartners.org

January is National Mentoring Month and over 300 students in North Texas are waiting to be matched with volunteer reading partners

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DALLAS, TX (January 9, 2017) — January is National Mentoring Month, and Reading Partners is encouraging more community members to join its efforts to provide students in under-resourced schools with the tutoring and mentorship they need to become proficient readers by the fourth grade. A proven national nonprofit that mobilizes community volunteers to work one-on-one with struggling readers, Currently, there are over 300 students at 21 local elementary schools waiting to be matched with tutors. Mentoring month is the perfect time to get involved.

Across Texas, only 16 percent of fourth graders from low-income families are reading at grade level. Reading is the foundation for all future learning and Reading Partners tutors provide the individualized literacy support and mentorship to help students make the all-important shift from learning to read to reading to learn.

“Reading Partners is a program that encompasses the whole child,” Victor Alfaro said, principal at Worth Heights Elementary School, “Volunteers play a crucial role as they work one-on-one with students to help build their reading fluency and comprehension. At the same time, they are building a special bond with their student and classroom teacher. The gains these students make are priceless and their growing self-confidence is undeniable!”

Reading Partners volunteers utilize an easy-to-follow, individualized lesson plan each week, specific to their students’ needs in order to meet them at their level and help build both literacy skills and confidence. Reading Partners North Texas has an immediate need for volunteer tutors who can commit at least one hour a week to work with students in the following schools:

These are just a few of our schools that have the highest need of volunteers, but all 21 of our schools are still in need of tutors. For a complete list of all the schools Reading Partners is in, please visit our website to find the school where you would like to be a Reading Partner. To learn more, please email volunteerntx@readingpartners.org or call 214-821-4500.

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.