According to the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates Program of the U.S. Census Bureau released in January 1998, 32.4 percent of Mississippi children between the ages of 5 and 17 were living at or below the poverty level in 1993. Children enrolled in Mississippi Reads receive two hours of tutoring per week in their elementary school. An essential component of the Mississippi Reads model is that the child meets with the same tutor during each session. Federal Work Study students have two one hour sessions with four to five children per week. National service participants tutor between two and ten hours per week.
Volunteers usually meet with just one child twice each week.
The Tutor Training Model Mississippi Reads volunteers are trained by and receive on-going support from reading specialists located on or near the volunteers' campus sites. Reading specialists supporting volunteer tutors will work collaboratively this year. This effort will be facilitated by the central training coordinator, who is responsible for the design of the tutoring model and for tracking the progress in the sessions.