ST PAUL PARK, Minn. — New numbers out in the last week show many Minnesota students are struggling to make gains when it comes to reading scores. Now, as a new school year begins, Reading Partners Twin Cities is calling on community members to volunteer as reading tutors.
After clearing a background check, and before entering schools, volunteers attend a two-hour orientation to learn the foundational skills of literacy. Then, they will work one-on-one with students, staying with the same student the entire school year. Tutors are asked to give just one hour of their time per week.
This will be Thomas Noon's eighth school year volunteering for Reading Partners Twin Cities, and he plans to return to St. Peter Claver, where he volunteered last year. Noon says he will work with one student twice a week in the mornings before his regular work day begins.
"It's a great way to start the day," Noon said. "It's important for us to be those mentors or role models within the community."
Like most volunteers, he doesn't have an education degree or teaching license. Those aren't required.
"Not at all," Noon said with a laugh. "My background is in finance. I'm a financial analyst for Blue Cross Blue Shield."
Reading Partners Twin Cities reports more than 85% of low-income students statewide are reading below grade level. And while the data released by the Minnesota Department of Education last week show reading rates at Anoka-Hennepin and South Washington County Public Schools are above the state average, Minneapolis and St. Paul Public Schools are falling below it.
Now, Reading Partners Twin Cities is seeking at least 555 volunteers to tutor K-5 students in the 2024-2025 school year.
"We're really working to serve over 400 kids this year," Executive Director Brooke Rivers said. "We think we need about 600 people in order to do that."
Back in February, Reading Partners Twin Cities did a similar but smaller campaign to help kids as they neared the end of the school year. Rivers says they used and continue to use a tutoring model proven to improve reading proficiency for students who are reading at least six months below grade level.
"We were looking to try and recruit 50 more tutors at that time, and we had I think over 60 folks sign up to tutor with us in just a very short period of time," she said. "Eighty-nine percent of those students that we served met their primary literacy growth goal, which is fantastic, and for our youngest readers, kindergarten through second-grade students, 94% of those students were meeting their end-of-year goals by the end of the year."
Reading Partners Twin Cities is now in several community spaces and 10 local schools and just expanded to Faribault Public Schools. The St. Paul-based organization aims to become Reading Partners Minnesota in the future.
For more information about how you can volunteer, click here.