Customized Programs Available for Individual Students and Schools

Literacy questions to consider:

• How do you support your struggling readers?
• What do you do when your students can't comprehend their textbooks and thus continuously fall behind in all their subjects?
• How do you promote reading beyond the classroom wall?

How my Read2Be program is different from traditional reading intervention classes?

1. Personalized and tailored program: 1-to-1 or 2-to-1 student teacher ratio
2. Curriculum is based on a blend of resources tailored to each child
3. Starts with a reading assessment to develop a personalized plan
4. Instructed by a Reading Specialist
5. Weekly parent communication
6. Builds a strong teacher - student relationship
7. Weekly progress monitoring
8. Placement on a reading road map (see graphic), addressing skill deficiencies
9. Novel study – to reinforce skill development

Why Read2Be? (A personal story)

I watched my Dad, the Dean of the USC Law School, advocate for minorities who faced challenges passing the LSAT, an entrance exam, due to obstacles often beyond their control. He wanted to level the playing field by establishing a summer program that emphasized critical thinking and analytical writing as preparation for the law exam.

Despite facing backlash, he persisted, and the program was eventually offered to underprivileged aspiring young law students.

Like my Dad, I’m on a mission to support students from under-resourced communities who struggle with reading; which affects all areas of their academics. All students deserve a quality education and equal access to grade- level text, but the barriers must be addressed! We cannot simply place them in front of grade-level materials or computers and hope for the best.

I encountered these challenges firsthand while working at an inner-city middle school as the literacy coach and 8th grade English teacher. My class consisted of 28 struggling readers, with reading levels ranging from grades 1-8 ( and only one student at grade level). The problem was that the curriculum was designed for grade level readers, making it difficult for my students to engage with the prescribed texts. Fortunately, as a reading specialist, I had strategies to scaffold the material, and we made progress. However, it became clear that these students needed more individualized attention. This experience, combined with 35 years in the classroom, led to the creation of Read2Be. My program personalizes instruction by placing each child on a tailored reading road map ( see graphic) designed to address their unique reading deficiencies.

Timeframe for meeting with students

Broad based research indicates this fact: one- on-one instruction, regular sessions, at 30-40 minutes three- five times a week up to ten weeks results in optimum impact.

What is Read2Be?

A road map for struggling readers to help them reach their destination: grade level reading proficiency!

The goal is for all students to access grade level texts for academic success and empower them through reading to BE whatever they want to BE.

“Programs do not teach; teachers do. Struggling readers need targeted, direct, and immediate intervention with a reading specialist.”

My program is an individualized action plan to support elementary, middle and high school readers who have fallen between the cracks due to a deficit that has not been addressed or observed. Read2Be follows the science of reading and applies the well researched Scarborough’s Reading Rope as a resource to develop a plan along with my experience as a reading specialist, literacy coach and 35 years in the classroom. The two main ropes: word recognition and language comprehension, are equally important to access grade level text. Students are assessed to determine which strands are frayed and how to weave the two ropes together for skilled reading.

My program meets readers at their present reading level and identifies the roadblocks that have interfered with proficiency in decoding, fluency, and comprehension. Students are placed strategically on a reading road map. The Road Map begins in the parking lot where all students hope to board the bus that will drive them to reading proficiency. Unfortunately, some are left behind in the parking lot as they struggle to master foundational reading skills. Read2Be places them on skill -building side streets so they can catch up with the bus. These tailored lessons are designed to move struggling readers down the side streets to achieve reading proficiency for academic and career success.

The graphic below shows the process for taking students along their individual pathway from “struggling” reader to “successful reader” – toward academic and lifetime success.