Local Residents Struggling to Read

One learner might be a grandmother who wants to read her grandchild a bedtime story. Another might be a parent, struggling to prepare for the GED. Another might be someone who already holds a job, but needs to work on his or her math skills for the GED to ever earn a promotion. Participants in Read To Succeed's one-on-one tutoring program come in all shapes and sizes, across different cultural groups and stages of life. But they all want one thing: to learn.

“We have a huge need for tutors right now,” said Shelly Stanley, Read To Succeed’s Adult Literacy Program Coordinator. “We have several people on our waiting list to be tutored, and they’re all excited about improving their reading skills and enhancing the quality of their lives.”

Read To Succeed’s Adult Literacy Program works with adults 18 and older to provide one-on-one tutoring in basic literacy at no cost to the learner. The program provides a free 12-hour training course to teach volunteer tutors how to work with adults. The tutors are then paired one-on-one with adult learners.

Read To Succeed currently has 52 tutor-learner pairs working around the county. At its peak last spring, the Adult Literacy Program had 64 pairs.

And the volunteers’ hard work has been paying off: this past year, Read To Succeed saw several adult learners earn their GEDs; one learner completed college courses at Middle Tennessee State University; another even bought his own home.

"So many people take reading for granted,” said Read To Succeed Executive Director Lisa Mitchell. “Our volunteers want to spend time blessing others with the ability to read.  We want to help everyone that needs to improve their reading skills—and the only way we can make that happen is through volunteers that want to make a difference in someone's life."

According to the U.S. Department of Education, one half of the American population doesn’t possess the most basic literacy skills. And here at home, that statistic is just as alarming: 44% of adults in Rutherford County read at or below the third grade level.

Some learners need help with basic reading, others might be more advanced but might want to hone their skills. Learners also come to Read To Succeed to work on higher-level English-as-a second-language needs, or even just to work on particular skills for the GED.

To become a tutor, adults 18 and over must attend a four-session training held on January 10, 17, 24, and 31 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Lon Nuell Literacy Center in Murfreesboro’s First Baptist Church. (Dinner will be provided.) There, prospective tutors will be introduced to the learning process so they feel prepared to be a tutor.  They will also go over cultural issues, specific phonemic learning, and work on how to approach different kinds of learners.

Tutors like Jim Horenkamp—who has worked with three different learners through Read To Succeed—can attest to how rewarding the process will be.

“Each learner has been different but enjoyable in his or her own way,” says Horenkamp, who became a Read To Succeed tutor after reading about it in the newspaper two years ago. “All three of my learners were able to read some, but they just wanted to get better at it. And I’ve always loved reading – I can’t go anywhere without a book – so I wanted to share that joy with someone else.”

To sign-up for Read To Succeed’s tutor training, please call 615-738-READ, e-mail adultliteracy@readtosucceed.org, or visit readtosucceed.org.