Each year, kindergarteners across America take delight in exploring new worlds through reading. Yet for many Albuquerque children, these worlds elude them. The Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce partnered with Albuquerque Public Schools to launch Albuquerque Reads in 2003 at Bel-Air Elementary.
Photo: Raquel Martinez, UNM financial aid officer, tutors a young girl at Atrisco Elementary.
“You would be surprised at the number of kids who have never held a book,” said Michael Gaylor, vice president of Albuquerque Reads. “It is a challenge for APS. There is an achievement gap, particularly in some of the higher risk schools,” Gaylor said. “Before we started, fewer than five percent of kids were coming into kindergarten prepared to read. At the end of kindergarten year, only 38 percent were ready to go to first grade.”
After participating in Albuquerque Reads, Bel-Air saw drastic increases in students’ literacy. “At the end of the year, 85 percent were reading at or above grade level,” Gaylor said. This early success led the program to expand to Atrisco and Wherry Elementary.
The program pairs students with volunteers to practice reading in a one-on-one setting that addresses their specific needs. The tutors come from throughout the community. “This year, we have a total of about 25 tutors that have some affiliation with UNM,” said Nena Perkins, program administrator for Albuquerque Reads.
UNM has been a continuous part of Albuquerque Reads’ volunteer base. “Faculty, staff, students and even administrators from UNM tutor,” said Cathy Britain, UNM campus recruiter.
“My first day, I was paired with a little girl. It was the first book she had ever read herself. I do not know who was more proud, her or me,” said Chris Jaramillo, development specialist at the UNM School of Medicine, Khatali Physicians Alumni Association.
Despite its remarkable success, the program still faces recruitment challenges. “We’ve got about 600 volunteers in three different schools and we are not fully staffed in all of them; there are some tutoring slots that are still open,” Gaylor said.
“We would like to expand, but our greatest challenge is recruiting enough volunteers,” Perkins said. “If we go to a fourth school, it would require another 300.”
Contact Perkins at 764-3736 or nperkin@abqchamber.com or visit Albuquerque Chamber.
Story by Jazmen Bradford