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| navigate: home: magazine: fall 2001: article | |
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Reading One-to-One improves children’s reading skills By Mary B. Waltman | ||||||
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In teaching under-performing children to read, it is personal attention and eye contact that make a difference. These factors are the power behind the success of the Reading One-to-One program developed by Dr. George Farkas, professor of sociology, demography and education. “There is no substitute for human interaction,” Farkas said. “One-to-One tutoring gives each child an attentive, responding adult and a safe, private place where the risk of failure is removed and encouragement to try is provided. One-to-One provides instant feedback from a caring adult with whom the student has bonded.” Another reason the program has been so successful is that instruction is tailored to begin at the current reading level of each student, rather than the class average reading level. Although Reading One-to-One incorporates techniques found in two traditional reading programs, Reading Recovery and Success for All, it has proven itself an exceptional program, because it provides quality instruction at a lower cost than programs that rely on certified professional tutors. One-to-One is able to operate at a fraction of the cost of the traditional programs, because it intensively trains university students or school aides to serve as tutors. Prospective tutors are not only trained, but also tested in detail on the structured curriculum, while receiving feedback to improve their skills. One-to-One has been described as “an intensive program serving a great many students, while still achieving large effects.” As director of the Center for Education and Social Policy at the University of Texas at Dallas, Farkas implemented the successful reading program in 1991 to increase the reading performance of at-risk children in the Texas school system. He explained that “at risk” is defined as any child who is a grade behind in reading. During the 10 years the Texas schools used his program, the reading comprehension of students increased an average of half a grade level. In eight years, the local literacy project extended to six states, as well as Mexico, and influenced national and state policies. Since then, Reading One-to-One has operated in 23 cities across more than 100 schools throughout the United States. In fact, One-to-One has received nationwide acclaim and was used to formulate President Clinton’s “America Reads” program, created to achieve nationwide literacy. Farkas joined the Penn State faculty in fall 2000 and has appointments in both the College of the Liberal Arts and the College of Education. This fall, he plans to initiate the program locally in Port Matilda Elementary School. Schreyer Honors College Scholars will serve as tutors. They will be trained for the carefully structured program and monitored regularly. The reading program will grant the Honors Scholars the opportunity to work with lower-performing children and help them raise their reading levels, Farkas noted. The program tutors children in kindergarten through eighth grade and consists of three or four, 40-minute sessions a week. Teachers select students who will benefit most from the program. The students are then assessed for placement into one of three reading groups. Reading One-to-One’s specific curriculum, which combines elements of both phonics and whole language, focuses on phonemic awareness, letter/sound correspondences, sounding out skills to read words in connected text and understanding what is read. The three groups of curricula are referred to as Alphabet, Word Family and Reading Comprehension and are designed for students at different levels of their reading capabilities. In general, children are assessed every fifth session. The program has been praised not only for improving the reading and writing skills of disadvantaged students, but also for teaching them to critically evaluate reading material. Basically, each student reads aloud to the tutor both familiar and new books. The remainder of the session may include letter, sound and word drills and writing and reading exercises to test for comprehension. Farkas’ program is currently being used in a number of western Pennsylvania school systems, including Pittsburgh, McKeesport, West Mifflin, Steel Valley, Penn Cambria and Portage. Before coming to Penn State, he was a professor of sociology and political economy in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas. While there, he also founded and directed the Center for Education and Social Policy in the School of Social Sciences. Previously, he was assistant professor of sociology at Yale University. Farkas’ research interests include schooling and human resources, demography, statistical research methods, evaluation research, economic sociology and labor markets. He is author and co-author of four books and more than 30 scholarly articles. His publications include articles in The American Sociological Review, The American Journal of Sociology, The American Educational Research Journal, Brookings Papers on Education Policy, The Journal of Labor Economics and The Journal of Human Resources. His current research focuses on the acquisition of cognitive skills by at-risk students. An outreach program of the College of the Liberal Arts and the College of Education | |||||
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