In March 1997, Coalition members began meeting monthly to develop a plan of action. During the summer of 1997 an aggressive recruitment campaign for volunteers began and a team of experts from the Coalition developed a tutoring program for the emergent reader that targeted first graders at urban schools with low reading scores. The goal of this initiative was to improve the reading capabilities of first graders reading below grade level. From August 1997 to June 1998 the South Florida America Reads Coalition placed 223 FWS student tutors in 35 public schools and six community after-school tutoring sites. The Book Fair will undertake an aggressive marketing campaign to promote America Reads training and tutoring opportunities to the general public, work closely with the Coalition to develop and implement a parental involvement component at one of the America Reads tutoring sites.
Tutors undergo approximately two hours of orientation and four hours of training.
In addition, a reading coordinator and 1 st grade teachers at each site are trained and provide on-going support and direction. Approximately 280 Federal Work Study college students will be recruited, trained, and placed at 44 schools and community sites. In addition, hundreds of community volunteers will be recruited, trained, and placed using the Miami-Reads Tutorial. This will allow us to train and place both Miami-Reads Tutorial volunteers and Reading Partners volunteers, depending on their time and interests. Experts from M-DCPS adult education will develop a parental involvement component.