Northwestwrc.org

        Washington Reading Corps places 260 AmeriCorps members in 76 elementary schools and 24 early learning sites throughout Washington. Members are placed in high-need schools and early learning centers where the average free/reduced lunch was 60% or higher. State Funds Critical to Leverage Federal Funds $1.06 million in state funds leverages $3.3 million per year in competitively awarded federal funds from the Corporation for National and Community Service. In order to receive the federal funds a non-federal cash match is required. The state funds provide the cash match. Reading Corps members impact Washington's economy
- Reading Corps members spend their living allowance, totaling $3.1 million, in Washington.
- Reading Corps members receive a federally funded Education Award of $5,350 upon completion of their service year:
- 77% use their award in Washington, injecting an additional $1.07 million into our economy.
- 65% of Reading Corps members plan to pursue a career in education.
- 97% of Reading Corps members report gaining career development skills during their service year.
- 99% of Reading Corps members plan to continue volunteering in their communities after their service year.
        Grant Requirements for Participating WRC Schools: Through a competitive process in the spring of 2009, 76 Washington elementary schools were awarded AmeriCorps and VISTA members to provide intense tutoring services to struggling readers in K-6th grade. By accepting this award schools committed to the following:
1. Washington State K-12 Reading Model or Response to Intervention (RTI) Model: Participating schools must have a comprehensive literacy program aligned with the Washington State standards and with current scientific reading research.
2. Intervention: Washington Reading Corps Member ratio to students in the intervention process is 1 member to 4 students, or fewer. These students have been identified as needing Tier II intervention, that is, students who have been identified as struggling readers will be provided tutoring intervention in a 1 on 1 basis or in small groups of 4 students or less for a minimum of 20 minutes per session. Each school agrees to provide training to the AmeriCorps members using a structured para-reading instruction model.
3. Assessment and Data Collection: During the 2009-10 school year OSPI and the Washington Service Corps (WSC) requested that schools permit OSPI to gain access to student DIBELS oral reading fluency data. Schools that used the DIBELS system allowed access to their WRC student data. As a result, OSPI and the WSC were able to measure student's progress from the fall of 2009 to the spring 2010.
4. School Leadership: Each school identifies a WRC contact and mentor. Typically, the WRC contact or mentor is a principal or school reading leader. The WRC contact/mentor will:
- Assess and identify students who will benefit from services under the grant.
- Provide professional development intervention training on a research-based reading intervention program.
- Collect and maintain the data for the school.
- Monitor the fidelity of implementation of the intervention program(s).
- Regularly attends and/or is present at training/professional development sessions as requested by the WSC and/or WRC.
        Oral reading fluency assessment data was reported for 1,329 students in first through fifth grades. Overall, results indicate that students who received WRC tutoring intervention made steady oral reading fluency gains. Last year, 54% of students gained 1 grade level or met benchmark. Without the WRC intervention they would be even further behind.