A learning experience

AR Kids Read helps pupils and tutors make a connection with words on a page

Mary Dee Taylor of Little Rock tutors Williams Traditional Magnet Elementary third-grade pupil Trenton Gaines, 8, as part of the AR Kids Read literacy initiative for central Arkansas students.
Mary Dee Taylor of Little Rock tutors Williams Traditional Magnet Elementary third-grade pupil Trenton Gaines, 8, as part of the AR Kids Read literacy initiative for central Arkansas students.

It's a Thursday afternoon in the teacher's workroom -- also known as the literacy reading room -- at Williams Traditional Magnet Elementary School in Little Rock. Mary Dee Taylor, a woman whose features belie her 80 years, is tutoring third-grader Braylon Maris, 8. Taylor's manner is patient, her tone kind as they read Arthur Loses a Friend by Marc Brown. Braylon reads hesitantly, but steadily. Taylor helps with a word occasionally.

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Braylon Maris, 8, a third-grader at Williams Traditional Magnet Elementary, participates in the AR Kids Read literacy program.

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AR Kids Read tutor Mary Dee Taylor of Little Rock works with Williams Traditional Magnet third-grader Braylon Maris. Taylor is a volunteer tutor for the AR Kids Read literacy intervention program.

When Braylon's 30-minute session is up, he returns to his class. Taylor's second pupil of the day enters -- Trenton Gaines, also an 8-year-old third-grader.

"There he is. Hello, Trenton," Taylor greets him. "Come, sit around here ... the way we usually do." The reading starts all over, this time with the book One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root.

This is Taylor's third year of tutoring through AR Kids Read, a nonprofit organization that trains volunteers and places them in schools in the Little Rock, North Little Rock and Pulaski County Special school districts. Each tutor commits to helping two pupils during a 10-week semester, working one-on-one or in small groups for an hour per week.

"They say that parenthood is the worst job you'll ever love," Taylor says after her sessions with Braylon and Trenton. "Well, volunteering is the best job you'll never get paid for, except in the rewards of watching these children. And they are just wonderful."

She didn't seek this particular job. A twice-retired executive director of The Financial Planning Association of Arkansas, Taylor was introduced to AR Kids Read by a friend who thought she could use something to occupy her free time.

"She said, 'You're a reader. I bet you'd love it,'" Taylor says. "And she was right."

Rapid growth

According to the Arkansas Department of Education, more than 40 percent of Arkansas students do not read at grade level. AR Kids Read was created to help these children reach reading-level proficiency by the time they begin fourth grade, focusing tutoring efforts on kindergarten through third grades.

Now located in the Junior League of Little Rock's nonprofit center, AR Kids Read began in the spring semester of 2012 with eight pilot schools in Little Rock and North Little Rock and about 65 tutors. The program now boasts more than 400 tutors in 41 schools.

"Our goal is 600 tutors," says Charlie Conklin, AR Kids Read executive director. "The part that we're so excited about is that we're reaching almost a thousand second- and third-graders."

Funding for the agency comes from donations and sponsorships as well as a $70,000 matching grant initiative provided through a joint effort of Fifty for the

Future, the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, the National Christian Foundation and the Arkansas Community Foundation. Through the end of the year, any donations up to $70,000 will be matched dollar for dollar.

AR Kids Read also benefits from partner

organizations that agree to provide five or more tutors each. Community partners include the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, the West Little Rock Rotary Club, the Junior League of Little Rock, the Little Rock Air Force Base, the Arkansas Army and Air National Guard, and the cities of Sherwood and North Little Rock.

Tutoring sessions are designed to aid with the students' reading comprehension, oral fluency and vocabulary. Tutors range in age from 18 to 85 and don't have to have a background in education, Conklin says.

"The key to this is having an adult that is working with a struggling reader to help them enjoy reading and find out the possibilities that being able to read proficiently opens up to students," he says.

Each tutor must submit to a background check and undergo a 45-minute initial training and orientation. The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Center for Literacy also provides free, optional tutor workshops every semester, and Conklin says about 50 percent of AR Kids Read tutors attend.

Williams Elementary was among the charter schools for AR Kids Read. Students are selected for the program by teachers who, along with curriculum coordinator Vivian Evans, look at student's scores and classroom needs.

For Braylon, who's spending his first semester in the program, tutoring has sparked an increased interest in reading.

How does he like his tutoring so far?

"Good," he says. He and Taylor have also gone over "some books that I got from the library," including Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, and few books about basketball.

Providing hope

Currently, there are more male than female pupils participating in the program.

"Through statistics and in conversations with district and school personnel, African-American males are reading at lower levels than their peers nationally," says Matthew DeSalvo, community relations director for AR Kids Read. "Little Rock School District is patterned after that national norm, so some of the students we work with fit that demographic because of their reading levels."

Volunteers find that students respond especially well to one-on-one attention.

"One of the first things they told the volunteers is that some of these children have never had a conversation with an adult one-on-one," Taylor says. "So one of the first things that I discovered is that if I ask the children about themselves ... eventually they start asking me some things."

While tutors are quick to talk about the results they see in tutoring sessions, Conklin is careful when discussing the results of the AR Kids Read program so far.

While early results show program participants seeing slightly more reading improvement than their peers, "it's way too early to make any conclusions," he says. "And, really, we're supporting the teachers in what they're doing. There's no [magic] bullet to reading comprehension."

Nevertheless, these early results are encouraging to him.

"It's more than just knowing the words or understanding the vocabulary. It's an opportunity for these kids to really not only improve their comprehension, but really use reading as a life skill."

Family on 11/11/2015

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