READ718 Remote
Educational programs to improve literacy among children from low-income families
Location: New York USA
Sponsor: Sharon Wurtzel
Read 718 Remote: Grantee in 2021 and 2022-23
Read 718 was established in 2015 to provide one-on-one reading instruction to improve literacy among students in grades 3-8 in Brooklyn. With two centers in operation, Read 718 Remote was launched during the pandemic to extend the reach of the organization’s successful in-person instructional reading programs. The programs are designed for children who are reading below grade level. These students come from low-income families, and almost all of them are Black or Brown. Many also have a learning disability so the opportunity to receive free, high-quality, one-to-one instruction is especially impactful.
The Read 718 program utilizes a series of 10-week instructional cycles and has seen students gain, on average, 1.5 reading levels per cycle. Just as importantly, students report greater confidence in their reading and parental satisfaction is universal.
The inclusion of online instruction has several benefits; Read 718 can recruit volunteer tutors from anywhere and make it possible to reach more needy students in a highly cost-effective and efficient way.
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GRANT SUMMARY AND PURPOSE
2021: $30,000 supports the expansion of the online reading program. The monies will fund the staffing of a program manager and newly hired part-time project assistant. The program also plans to train 50 volunteer tutors in anticipation of its expansion.
2022-23: $30,000 will allow READ 718 to expand the number served in Brooklyn to 75 and help determine if scaling by adding to the number of readers and geographic area served is possible in the future. In addition, a grant of $2,883 in unrestricted funding has been awarded to support this mission.
IMPACT
Initially, the program served 25 children, then expanded to support 50 students in 2022 and 75 students in 2023. Proving the success of remote instruction provides data regarding expansion of the program into new areas of need in the future.
