About 60 children will lag behind in reading skills when they start 2nd grade next fall in Des Plaines District 62 schools, but administrators hope to find tutors for them in an unlikely source: high school freshmen who lag behind in reading.
The tutoring program is designed to help counter a projected drop in reading scores in Maine Township District 207 high schools and in their feeder grade school districts. The plan would involve recruitment of incoming freshmen with low reading skills to tutor younger children with low reading skills. For the younger children it would be like school; for the older ones it would be a job, complete with pay.
The District 207 board is to decide next month whether to participate in the program.
About 60 children will finish District 62 1st grades with low reading skills, said Kathryn Davy, District 62 language development specialist. The district hopes to get 30 pupils involved in the summer tutoring program, she said.
About 80 incoming high school freshmen, or about one-fifth of that class at Maine West High School in Des Plaines, read at a 5th-grade level or lower, she said. District 62 could use only about 10 of them for the program it is calling Summer Academy Reading Pilot.
High school students selected for the program would be paid minimum wage by District 62, Davy said.
The tutoring, officials believe, would build self-confidence all around by putting the focus on success instead of failure.
“This program will stop the (reading) problem before it begins so children don’t have a chance to fail,” Davy said of the 1st graders.
For the freshmen, the program would offer students a way to be successful where they’ve faltered in the past, she said. By teaching younger children letter and word identification and helping them grasp the meaning of words, older students strengthen their own reading skills, Davy said.
“This is an incredible way for kids to learn,” said Becky Stromberg, a District 62 reading specialist.
“Ultimately, the results of the program could be pretty dramatic,” Supt. Steven Snider said, alluding to an increase in reading skills as well as improved self-esteem.
The monthlong program is expected to run from June 17 to July 26. Districts 207 and 62 are looking at various sources to pay for the $10,509 program.
