The longest-running, most successful tutoring program in the United States, Read 2 Me™ began in 1988 when a Franciscan Hospital executive provided 50 volunteers to help with reading at a local elementary school in Tacoma.
Known as SMART at its outset, the program emphasized tutoring/ mentoring within the Tacoma Public Schools (TPS) and changed its name to Werlin Reading several years later. As a result of a merger with the Pierce County Reading Foundation, which had a focus on early literacy, the program is now known as Read 2 Me™. Since its inception, Read 2 Me™ has enjoyed a strong relationship with TPS, aligning its curriculum with TPS’s academic standards. The program has assisted more than 8,500 students by continuing to provide them with the most fundamental key to education: mastery of reading.
Read 2 Me™ advocates reading aloud to children from birth to age five, and currently provides individual tutors/mentors to students in kindergarten through grade three in the Tacoma School District. At many schools, Read 2 Me™ is the only source of reading help for students in the early grades. The program pairs students with volunteer tutors from throughout the community, meeting for 45-minute sessions each week in a Read 2 Me™ designated classroom. These individuals are recruited and trained to tutor students individually to increase their reading ability, self-esteem and long-term academic success. Tutors receive ongoing support from Read 2 Me™ coordinators who assist them and monitor their activities during each session.
This year, DeLong, Lister, Manitou Park, Mann, Reed and Wainwright elementary schools launched the Read 2 Me™ program, joining existing programs at Birney, Boze, Browns Point, Geiger, Jefferson, McCarver, McKinley, Northeast Tacoma, Point Defiance and Roosevelt elementary schools. As a result of prior student success, dedicated community volunteers and support from individuals, foundations and corporations, Read 2 Me™ services will be provided to nearly 1,000 students this school year. However, the Read 2 Me™ expansion has also resulted in a greater need for community volunteers to assist students in reaching benchmark reading goals.
Spending just 45 minutes a week with a child can change their lives so profoundly. The time that Read 2 Me™ volunteers give these students is the little extra nudge they need to go from struggling with letters to reading books in just one school year. For most of them, it is a chance at a better future. For additional information about Read 2 Me™ or to volunteer for the program, please visit the Web site at www.read2me.org or call 253.459.0217.