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APRIL 2005

Teachers College Students Serve as Reading Tutors
to 4 Harlem Schools

TC Reading Buddies Provide One-On-One Attention While Earning Course Credits

Forty students from Teacher’s  College, known as the TC Reading Buddies, are providing one-on-one reading tutoring to struggling pupils at four Central Harlem elementary schools. Each Reading Buddy works with six children who tested in the bottom quartile of their class on the English Language Assessments (ELA), spending 20 minutes daily, five days a week, reading to and with each child. The children are first and third graders at PS 123, PS 125, PS 154 and CS 200. The New York City Agency for Child Services (ACS) has determined that compared to other city schools, these institutions are among those with the highest incidence of referrals for “educational neglect” and child abuse. Children are referred to ACS for educational neglect after 10 consecutive unexcused absences.

“Having the Reading Buddies in this school is a great benefit to the students,” says Nadine Kellogg, the administrator assigned gives a powerful message about reading in the world that is very important.” And Sarah Wunsdh, a teacher at P.S. 154 adds, “How could it not be wonderful? I need all the help I can get!”

The TC Reading Buddies, who represent each of the nine academic departments at the College, will receive a three-credit scholarship for their service. The project is being funded by TC Trustee Arthur Zankel, and will include an evaluation component to determine its success.

“The Reading Buddies initiative is an integral part of a holistic strategy designed to provide direct support for improving student achievement in the TC EdZone, the area north and west of Teachers College,” says Dawn Arno,

Director of the TC EdZone Partnership. The Partnership is a joint effort between the College and the New York City public school system to boost learning opportunities, expectations and classroom outcomes for all students.

Arno, staff from the Department of Education, and TC faculty members who have expertise in literacy development, are providing the Reading Buddies with ongoing training. The Reading Buddies underwent a series of orientation sessions prior to beginning their assignment in schools. In addition, they are required to attend a biweekly seminar designed to provide them with feedback on their prior week’s experiences and to provide continuous learning opportunities and development of specific strategies for improving the reading skills of their tutees.

“It’s very exciting to see these kids so thrilled to read,” says David Ezell, a TC Reading Buddy enrolled in the College’s Clinical Psychology program. “The one-to-one time is really valuable for them and for me. It’s particularly helpful in bringing unseen problems to light. For example, with one child, I’ve already discovered that the problem was poor eyesight, not poor reading skills.”

The Reading Buddies program is also working with TC’s Department of Psychology to secure the placement of school psychology students in the four Reading Buddy schools, and with ACS for the placement of four graduate social work interns in each of the four schools. Each social work intern will have an average caseload of 10 students, and in conjunction with a school employee will make home visits to the families of Reading Buddy tutees. ACS has also committed to assign a dedicated ACS staff member to work directly with the TC EdZone Partnership in one of the four schools.

The parents of the tutees of the TC Reading Buddies will be targeted for active involvement in the support of their children’s academic lives. A series of Parent Education seminars has been planned for April 2005 and will be held at the Conference Center at TC’s campus at the Theresa Hotel on West 125th Street.

Plans are underway for the development of a TC Math Buddies program, which will target the top quartile of students in the same classes that the TC Reading Buddies now serve. #

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