ABQ READS
A partnership between the Chamber and APS launched in 2003, Albuquerque Reads mobilizes over 350 volunteer tutors each year to help mostly at-risk students at three Albuquerque elementary schools improve their reading skills. Over the course of the school year, students receive 90 minutes of one-on-one literacy tutoring each week. Children also receive twenty free books to build their very own at-home library.
ABQ Reads provides over 7,000 hours of tutoring each year.
The program serves kindergarteners at Bel-Air Elementary and Atrisco Elementary, as well as kindergarteners and first graders at Whittier Elementary. Volunteers include active-duty military from Kirtland Air Force Base, college students, retirees, and working professionals. ABQ Reads provides more than 3,000 books annually to children.
ABQ Reads gets results.
Albuquerque Reads gets results. At the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year, only 17% of kindergarten students at the three Albuquerque Reads sites demonstrated pre-reading proficiency, compared with nearly 1/3 of their peers in the rest of the district. During that school year, ABQ Reads students made substantial literacy gains – nearly closing the reading proficiency gap with the rest of their peers.
ABQ Reads is expanding, and we need your help.
This year, Albuquerque Reads will begin serving first graders for the very first time and will hopefully continue growing to stick with students from kindergarten through the 3rd grade. Research shows that students who are unable to read by the 3rd grade are four times more likely to drop out.
In order to make this expansion successful, ABQ Reads needs more volunteer tutors and additional donations to cover the cost of books distributed to students each year.
Learn more about Albuquerque Reads
To learn more about ABQ Reads, visit their website: www.abqreads.com. If you’re interested in becoming a reading tutor or wish to make a donation, contact (505) 843-READ (7323) by phone or [email protected] via email.
