Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SPRINGVILLE — Volunteers at Sage Creek Elementary believe their time is better spent reading with struggling students than hosting a fundraiser.
"It's a lot better for me to be in the classroom volunteering rather than doing a one-time volunteer at a bake sale or a one-time volunteer at a carnival," said Angela Jensen.
Each week this school year, she and 275 other community members have come to the school to read one-on-one with students.
"We had an army of community volunteers that were tutors," said principal Brenda Burr. She added, choking up, "And out of those students who were tutored, almost all of those students are now at grade level."
Fourth-grader Kaley is one of those students.
"I was way low, like third-grade level. Now, I'm where I'm supposed to be," Kaley said.
Sage Creek is a living laboratory of research from the University of Chicago. Teams tracked struggling readers in Minnesota who took part in a similar tutoring situation operated by AmeriCorps.
The research concluded students not only made marked improvements in their reading and kindergarten readiness with the help of a tutor, but schools could also replicate these gains all over the country if they could harness their volunteer forces.
Watch the video to see how on earth Sage Creek Elementary recruited 276 volunteers and and the year-end celebration.
