May 2001

Canby School District

BACKGROUND: In the spring of 2000, the Canby School District held a Youth Summit to brainstorm goals and priorities. Teaching kids to read by the time they reached the third grade emerged as a major goal. It’s become common knowledge that learning to read by the third grade opens the door to future academic success. 

The district had recently hired a literacy expert, Robin Adcock. She pulled together staff and ideas to explore how the district could accomplish the goal. While SMART (Start Making A Reader Today) was a great option, the district didn’t have the funds to support the program; plus, it wasn’t even offered in Clackamas County at the time. 

"We studied it, however, and came up with a version of our own," Adcock said, noting the pilot began in April 2001 with 80 adult volunteers. The district had applied for a $63,000 grant from Learn and Serve of Oregon, thanks to grant writer Ed Armstrong, and created a reading tutor/mentor program for kindergarten through second graders in five elementary schools.

WHAT THEY DO: Eighty adult volunteers signed up and received 1.5 hours of training in how to read to (and with) young children. Teachers selected students they felt would benefit most, not only from help in reading but with having an older friend and mentor. Sometimes the children and adults draw pictures together, or just talk. Children also receive their own book to take home so they can read to their parents and family.

"To say that I’m pleased with the program is putting it mildly," says Adcock, adding that the only glitches had been in communications during the start-up phase.

SUCCESS: Adcock and reading volunteers have reported breakthroughs in reading skills and confidence of students. "Our volunteers are saying the program is making a difference," she says. "State testing will probably show official gains in reading levels next year."

Beth Waage, an Americorps service learning coordinator at Carus Elementary, and Can Read tutor, is pleased with her experience. "The kids usually can’t wait for us to come and pick them up from their rooms," she said.

"A lot of kids haven’t had this kind of interaction, like talking to adults, reading and being read to," says Marianne Bunnell, volunteer coordinator at Carus. "We’re making them think beyond. Everything we can do, from the simplest thing to higher levels, builds a foundation. A lot of parents don’t realize they are their child’s number one teacher. If they don’t do it from infancy on, the foundation just doesn’t get built."

FUNDING: The Learn and Serve grant allowed Adcock to develop the program and create resources, such as forms and training materials. It also covers a portion of her salary and criminal background checks for the reading tutors, a procedure required for all staff and volunteers who have direct contact with children. "The key to success is in getting organized, and any district can do it," Adcock says. "It’s really a bad idea to have volunteers show up and not have something ready for them to do." Adcock is happy to share examples of the materials she developed with interested school districts and ESDs, and how the district recruited volunteers.

OUTSIDE SUPPORT: Canby relied on strong community support, including 1,000 books donated from the Kiwanis Thrift Shop to use at schools. Cash donations from Starbucks and a local businesswoman started the new book fund and books continue to be deposited in special boxes around town and at each school. "But without the dedication of 80 volunteers, this program simply would not be," Adcock says. "We recruited retired teachers, librarians and community business leaders who had never volunteered in a school before. These wonderful people have made an impact on 85 children, just in the pilot, and are all ready to come back and do it again in the fall."

FUTURE: The program will start with training in August and third graders will be added. Mentors from this spring will carry on with their same students whenever possible, for continuity, Adcock says.