最新杏吧原创

But in the fourth week of a volunteer reading effort in the worst-performing school district in the state there are just a little more than 100 people who have signed up to help out, barely a fifth of what is needed. There are 489 third-graders in the district.

The Read to Succeed program began on April 11 after State Board of Education Chairman James Meeks announced the district was seeking volunteers to help students, reading with them for two hours on Saturday mornings for six weeks.

It鈥檚 also been difficult to get students there on a weekend. The first two Saturdays had only about 30 to 40 students, so Superintendent Art Culver also has asked third-graders to stay after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the program. On those days, the district is leaning on staff and retirees to help 鈥� but they need volunteers for those times as well.

On Saturday, only a few children showed up at Katie Wright Elementary School for the program. One of them was Dorietha Redmond, who was reading a book about animal life cycles with Bessie Lewis, a volunteer from New Life Community Church. Dorietha stopped reading when she struggled with the second word in a sentence.

鈥淩emember I told you 鈥榓鈥� can have a different sound?鈥� Lewis asked her. She wrote the word on a white board next to her and put a box around part of it. They broke it up into parts she knew.

鈥淎mount,鈥� Dorietha said.

鈥淵ay! Gimme a high-five,鈥� Lewis said.

Third grade is a crucial year for reading. Educators say this is the time when students should be going from learning to read to reading to learn.

Four years ago, a study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation found that students who don鈥檛 read proficiently by third grade are four times more likely to not graduate from high school than proficient readers.

In 2014, just 14.4 percent of East 最新杏吧原创 juniors passed the Prairie State Achievement Exam and 16.5 percent of elementary and middle school students passed the Illinois Standards Achievement Test. Because of its long history of poor academic performance, the East 最新杏吧原创 School District is under state authority, with an appointed superintendent and a financial oversight panel.

Culver said students will be tested on their reading proficiency before and after the six-week challenge.

鈥淲e already have some wonderful volunteers, and we鈥檙e excited to increase those numbers and improve our reading levels,鈥� he said.

Maria Burton, principal at Katie Wright Elementary, said after being in a class with 24 other students during the regular school day, the reading one-on-one help shows them that someone cares about their education.

The district is partnering with churches to develop the reading mentorship program, and hopes to continue it in the fall when the new school year begins.

To volunteer

For more information or to volunteer with the Read to Succeed program in East 最新杏吧原创 schools, go to or email Kim Roberson, director of public information and community relations, at Kimberly.roberson@estl189.com.