Our Albuquerque Reads kindergarten and first-grade students are celebrating the end of the school year – but it’s never too soon to become a volunteer for the next school year.
Albuquerque Reads, a program of the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, relies on its many volunteer tutors to help some of our youngest students gain the life-changing skills of reading and writing.
With another school year starting in August, ABQ Reads is again looking for new volunteers to join the ranks of this dedicated group. (Some volunteers have been with the program the full 20-plus years!) Tutors volunteer in any of three of Albuquerque Public Schools’ Title I schools: Atrisco, Bel Air and Whittier elementaries. They donate 90 minutes a week, and those who prefer to join a team can volunteer one week a month.
APS provides volunteers with training before they begin one-on-one tutoring and guides them throughout the school year. ABQ Reads tutor training sessions will once again be done in August as well as throughout the school year.
For more information on how to become a tutor and how to support this program’s work, please check out abqreads.com or contact program director Kayla Nelson at [email protected] or (505) 843-7323.
About Albuquerque Reads
Literacy skills are incredibly important for our kids. Research shows that students who can’t read on grade level by the time they reach third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school. And this program is proven to work – Albuquerque Reads students consistently show impressive improvement from the beginning of the school year to the end. This progress is especially important now. The pandemic has widened achievement gaps among students in New Mexico, with our economically disadvantaged and Hispanic students likely more behind than ever.
For more than 20 years, the Chamber has partnered with Albuquerque Public Schools to bring reading tutors into Title I schools to boost kindergarten and first-grade literacy skills through Albuquerque Reads. Our tutors spend 90 minutes of one-on-one time each week with students at three Title 1 elementaries, practicing critical reading and writing skills with them using a teacher-designed and supervised curriculum. The program also provides each child with at least 20 books throughout the school year so they can keep practicing their skills at home with family.
