One hour a week
The Kern County Community Reading Project is recruiting volunteers to help second-grade students strengthen their reading skills and confidence.
Volunteers receive guided-reading training and commit approximately one hour per week for at least one semester. During each classroom visit, a volunteer works individually with several students for about 15 minutes apiece. No teaching experience is required.
Reported student progress
Kern County Superintendent of Schools reports that participating students at Karl F. Clemens Elementary School in Wasco began last school year reading an average of 30 words per minute. By the end of the year, the average had increased to 67 words per minute.
That improvement cannot be credited to volunteers alone—it reflects work by students, families, teachers and literacy specialists—but consistent individual practice can provide attention that crowded classrooms struggle to offer.
The project began in 1999 and has expanded to more than 20 school sites.
How to help
A volunteer training session is scheduled for September 10 from 9 to 11 a.m. at Bell Tower Plaza’s Kern Room, 1210 Truxtun Avenue in Bakersfield. Registration is not required.
Investing one hour a week may sound small, but early literacy affects nearly every subject a student encounters later. Volunteers should supplement—not replace—trained, adequately funded educators.