This grant allows them to incorporate two excellent reading programs at their schools. This program involves volunteer mentors working directly with students, helping them master specific reading skills. McKey believes the two programs, along with the normal classroom instruction and assistance from Title I teachers, provide balance in a total reading program. Approximately 60 mentors have volunteered at each school, representing parents, community members, business people, Hiland High School students, as well as Mt. Hope and Winesburg fifth eighth graders.
Mentors work with students for thirty minutes at a time.
Students receive reading help from different mentors three or four times a week. The relationships that have developed between students and mentors have been special. First students select books from a list of high-quality titles. Second, they read the book at their own pace. Third, students take short quizzes on the computer.