Joyful Readers

Description

School-aged children are in crisis. According to the PA Department of Education’s Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, just 29.1% of Philadelphia 3 rd graders could read on grade level in 2022. Systemically under-resourced schools, staggering rates of poverty and deep poverty, substandard instructional practices, and the legacy and continued presence of structural racism have all contributed to inequitable and unacceptable educational outcomes for Philadelphia youth.

Longitudinal studies provide a grim truth about what happens when students can’t read proficiently in elementary school: they rarely catch up. When students can’t read proficiently, they fall behind academically and become disconnected from school. Over time, reading difficulty compounds, leaving students unable to connect to written course materials in middle and high school, leading to lower rates of high school graduation and college attendance and persistence.

Joyful Readersbrings full-time AmeriCorps tutors directly into Philadelphia public schools to provide daily, intensive reading tutoring to students. Tutors serve in small teams in elementary schools for a full school year. They work with the same 22 students each and every day in both 1-on-1 and small group formats. Using research-based, high-quality curriculum endorsed by teachers and experts alike, students gain the literacy skills critical for success in school, at work, and in their daily lives.