1561 McLendon Avenue, N.E. • Atlanta • 404-522-7997
In 1986 when national publicity focused on the large number of illiterate adults in the U.S. , Alice Rockwell, an Atlanta adult basic education teacher started a training program for volunteers to tutor functionally illiterate adults in our city. Her effort and commitment attracted others, and Project Read was born, as were other remedial programs for adult illiteracy.
It is a hard number to measure, but estimates put the functionally illiterate group at 25% of Atlanta ’s adult population.
In a society that values knowledge and requires reading skills to learn, illiteracy’s consequences are horrendous. They include joblessness, at the very least economic disadvantage and all too often poverty. They also include social isolation that engenders low self-esteem and a sense of inadequacy as a parent.
Since its inception, Project Read has trained over 1600 volunteer tutors and served over 900 students. Its budget is raised from community and private foundations, government grants, corporations and benefits. A small core of professional educators and administrative personnel under gird the large volunteer tutorial staff.
The curriculum, “ Laubach Way to Reading ” is effective and easy to use. Introduction to it requires a few hours of instruction and direction from the staff. Throughout the tutoring process regular— though not time-intrusive—meetings with the staff provide direction and support for volunteers. Interested students who apply for the program are interviewed and tested. The results allow the professional staff to tailor a program appropriate for the student.
Two tutors share one student; each typically meets the student once a week and, as needed, they share ideas and plan. Employing two tutors anticipates times when one or the other is not available, and it lessens the load for each. Tutoring sessions occur at convenient locations such as a public library. The county and city libraries strongly support the program and provide resources to tutors, students, and the general program. Churches and other public places are utilized too.
Project Read tries to pair students’ and the tutors’ geographical preferences. Tutoring is very rewarding for the tutor. To watch the student progress, to observe how he or she grows in self-esteem and confidence provide a true sense of satisfaction.
A tutor makes a commitment to teach for six months. This is not long enough for a student to complete the four major curriculum sections, but other tutors can take over. But once one is involved, he/she is caught up in the process, wants the student to succeed, and finds it hard to stop.
Dot and John Per-Lee report how progress, much less course completion increased their student’s confidence. The student also notices that his employer and peers give him more respect from which, one can tell, he feels greater self esteem.
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