Reading program to expand to Alma Schrader in Cape this fall

Teach a child to read and she learns for the rest of her life.

Marsha Sander has seen firsthand the effect of reaching young minds with the power of the written word. The veteran teacher in the Jackson School District is a local pioneer in what has proved to be a successful early reading program. Sander's READ -- Reading Excellence and Discovery -- program is adapted from the New York-based Read Alliance literacy campaign, which has taught thousands of academically struggling students to read.

A couple of years ago, Sander, then a fourth-grade teacher, saw the program in action. She was impressed, tested it out with a couple of students at a local church, saw its success there and brought it into her classroom.

"It was really out of frustration as teacher, seeing children come into the fourth grade reading below grade level," she said. "It has made a difference for my students, and it has made a difference for me."

READ officially launched in the 2009-2010 school year with 47 first-graders and some encouraging results, Sander said. Last year, the reading campaign brought 86 of 89 first-graders at four Jackson elementary schools up to grade-level reading or higher, she said.

The program's success, she said, is in its tutors, all volunteers and the vast majority of them Jackson High School students in the A+ scholarship program.

"The element that the tutors bring is that human touch and that human relationship," Sander said. "That's what makes this program so different from so many other response-to-intervention programs."

The United Way of Southeast Missouri saw the benefits and adapted the campaign at Blanchard Elementary School in Cape Girardeau.

"Read to Succeed" launched last fall with 24 kindergartners, and more than doubled enrollment in the second semester with the building of a stable volunteer base -- from businesspeople to college students to retirees.

For Blanchard -- designated a school in need of improvement for failing to hit No Child Left Behind targets -- and for the Cape Girardeau School District, "Read to Succeed" is at the forefront of the battle to improve academic performance.

All but one advanced

Nancy Jernigan, executive director of the United Way, said 49 of 76 kindergartners went through the program and all but one advanced to first-grade reading level or higher. The reading sessions had another benefit, reducing class sizes so teachers could devote more time to students in the classroom. Of all kindergartners, Jernigan said, all but two advanced to first-grade reading level or better.

The United Way plans to expand the program into Alma Schrader Elementary School this fall, and a $30,000 grant will pay for more materials and a part-time coordinator directing the broader initiative. Bekki Cook served as unofficial and unpaid coordinator to the program last year.

Jernigan said Alma Schrader's overall academic success and its comparatively smaller enrollment of free-and-reduced lunch students shouldn't preclude it from participating.

"We looked at expanding where schools requested us to go," she said. "If we don't have buy-in with administrators and staff, the program can't be successful. The other piece of this is we felt we could be able to recruit more volunteers and serve more children at that area."

Principals at Alma Schrader and Blanchard could not be reached for comment.

The United Way hopes to expand the initiative to every Cape Girardeau elementary school.

Sander has spent the past few years proselytizing the program.

"This is my mission work; it's really an answer to a prayer, is what this program is," she said. "I want to try to replicate this program as many times as I can and pass it on."

mkittle@semissourian.com

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