Become a Partner School

Our fellows work one-on-one with students for 45 minutes each school day to deliver Reading Assist’s accredited, evidence-based reading program, with a focus on developing phonemic awareness, phonics, and oral reading fluency skills.

Reading Assist Fellows are trained in our accredited multisensory structured literacy program. Our program was accredited by The International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council (IMSLEC) in 2017 and is the only accredited structured language training program in the state.

Fellows typically train from mid-August through mid-September.

Fellows usually begin working with students in mid- to late September. Fellows work through the end of May or whenever your interventions stop.

Each fellow can support a caseload of 7-8 students in grades K-3. Fellows work one-on-one with your most struggling students every day for 40-45 minutes.

Reading Assist is the only direct literacy intervention program in the country that specifically targets students in the lowest 10% in terms of reading proficiency. We look for students who have been particularly challenging for schools and may not have made progress with other interventions. Reading Assist will work with you to establish a list of students who may be a good fit for the program. We then send in an independent evaluator to provide a baseline benchmark. In partnership with your school, Reading Assist reviews this data and makes a final decision on student placement.

Reading Assist Fellows from over 25 different states have served in our program. Fellows are typically recent college graduates taking a gap year to do service work, or retirees looking to give back to their community.

Reading Assist aims to be a turnkey solution for your school. Reading Assist staff members manage both the instructional coaching and administrative management of your fellow. Fellows are assigned coaches, who meet with them weekly to review student progress and ensure lesson plans are tailored appropriately to your students’ needs. Reading Assist’s administrative team ensures fellows have all the appropriate paperwork and background checks in place to be embedded in schools.

We use DIBELS to both monitor and benchmark student progress. Progress monitoring is done weekly and administered by the fellow. Three times a year we send an independent evaluator to assess students against reading benchmarks.

Reading Assist will provide monthly student progress reports to school leadership and faculty. In addition, fellows keep track of weekly progress monitoring test scores, which can be shared at any point. Our instructional leadership is also available for in-depth meetings to discuss overall and individual student progress.

We ask for schools to provide instructional space for their fellows. We understand space can be at a premium and work with schools to find creative solutions.

Schools are also asked to provide a schedule that allows for fellows to pull students throughout the school day in order to accommodate a caseload of up to eight students. Reading Assist has worked with a variety of schools and can provide templates and support in establishing a schedule.
We also ask schools to include fellows as much as possible. We ask for them to be invited to meetings and school events so they can take part in the school’s community.

Fellows are AmeriCorps members who earn a modest monthly stipend. They are also eligible for an education award at the end of their year of service.

Reading Assist is funded in part by a grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service (AmeriCorps). This funding along with the support from many local foundations allows us to keep the school contribution to a minimum. Two fellows typically cost less than a single paraprofessional for an entire school year.

We ask schools to support the cost and the amount varies based on the number of fellows and length of agreement. Contact us to learn more about pricing options.