By Denise Gary
Photographs © Robert Gary
Kids Need to Read has received a $1,000 grant from American Woodmark Foundation to be used toward Reading Revolution, our pilot program aimed at increasing literacy rates and decreasing dropout rates among disadvantaged middle school students. Kids Need to Read and Arizona State University have been working together with educators at ASU Preparatory Academy to develop the innovative program, which launched in September 2011. The American Woodmark Foundation, formed in 1995, places a priority on literacy programs. The foundation is the charitable giving division of cabinet manufacturing company American Woodmark Corporation.
The funds provided by American Woodmark Foundation will be used to purchase books and fund programming necessary to conduct the second year of Reading Revolution at ASU Preparatory Academy, an inner-city charter school serving impoverished children in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. Galileo tests conducted after the first semester of the program indicated a significant increase in reading scores among the students in the program, as compared to the rest of the student body. Reading self-motivation has also increased according to the school’s educators. Second year efforts will continue to build on this success by presenting new curricula to eighth grade students while introducing seventh grade students to the first year programming. Future plans call for the expansion of this pilot program throughout the United States in middle schools seeking to inspire their students with cutting-edge approaches to literacy improvement and reduced dropout rates.
Kids Need to Read and Arizona State University sincerely thank American Woodmark Foundation for their assistance in funding Reading Revolution for the children of ASU Preparatory Academy and the many others who will be impacted by this program in the future.
Reading Revolution Program Partners
Arizona State University
ASU Preparatory Academy
American Woodmark Foundation
Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation
Avnet Contributions Council
Carus Publishing
National Home Library Foundation
Skype Limited
