Alexandria, VA – Alexandria Tutoring Consortium (ATC) tutored 255 local kindergarten, first, and second grade students in reading last school year. After 12,235 one-on-one tutoring sessions, 89% of the kids met their end-of-year reading benchmarks.

Executive Director Lisa Jacobs attributes these significant results to ATC’s adoption of a new lesson plan based on the Science of Reading. Jacobs says, “Our staff built a research-backed lesson plan and trained our incredible corps of volunteer tutors, who in real time could see the power of teaching phonics, and the kids excelled. This program works because ATC’s lesson plan matches what the students are learning in their classrooms. We work in lock-step with Alexandria City Public Schools to ensure our kids catch up to their classmates by the end of the year.”

Expanding to more kids:

ATC tutored 30% more children in the 2023-2024 school year than the previous one and brought its highly successful Book Buddies program to all 14 public elementary schools in the City of Alexandria. After helping 89% of those 255 children meet their end-of-year benchmarks, ATC is growing again, doubling its program at James K. Polk Elementary to add tutoring for twenty second graders!

Impact

Studies show that high dosage tutoring, like Book Buddies, works, and teachers continually report that ATC’s students thrive.  “I have witnessed firsthand the great work these tutors do. These caring adults are able to form relationships with students and help support them at such a critical point in their lives as readers! We know that outcomes for our students depend so much on their ability to read at an early age and with the ever growing number of students needing this kind of support, ATC’s volunteers provide an essential service in our community,” notes Naomi L. Brooks teacher Farr Quinn.

Call for volunteers

With the upcoming expansion, ATC needs more tutors. You can help a child learn to read by tutoring once or twice a week for 30 minutes during the school day (8:00-2:25), October-May. ATC provides all training, lesson plans, and materials. Tutoring occurs in-person in the schools. It is important to honor the year-long commitment because ATC volunteers truly become buddies with the kids they tutor. Your student will look forward to seeing you each week. For more information contact Alexa Allmann at [email protected] or register on our website, www.alexandriatutors.org. Tutor a child and change two lives! Or donate on ATC’s website to help more children in Alexandria learn to read!

The Alexandria Tutoring Consortium is a nonprofit organization that recruits and trains volunteers to tutor K-2 students in reading. ATC works in partnership with Alexandria City Public Schools and the community at large to provide a trained, dedicated tutor to every child who needs help learning to read.

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