We helped to pioneer the use of CUNY Brooklyn college students enrolled in early childhood literacy courses as Reading Rescue tutors for students in the New York City public school system. The pilot received significant interest from the funder community and has become a $2M public/private partnership (titled CUNY Reading Corps) involving students across 18 colleges who tutor DOE students in early reading skills – a classic example of our venture philanthropy approach.
CUNY Reading Corps currently trains preservice teachers in two tutoring programs – Reading Rescue and Reading Ready, pairing the tutors with striving NYC DOE K-2nd grade students. Lesson plans integrate instruction on the five essential components of literacy — phonemic awareness, phonics (decoding and encoding), fluency, vocabulary and comprehension skills.
The results for these interventions are promising. Most recent data suggests that Reading Rescue first and second grade students generally make 5 months of progress in just 20 sessions. For the 2022-23 school year, CUNY Reading Corps expects to reach roughly 2,700 of New York City’s public school teachers, with 800 tutors.
For more on a strategic partnership we created between CUNY Brooklyn College, Reading Rescue and GO Project, see here.