The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Dallas are celebrating summer literacy wins they said have transformed reading for dozens of kids.
President and CEO Brian Slye said what started as a summer program to help with a growing need turned into a life-changing experience for many of the students who participated.
“We had the unique opportunity to partner with nonprofits Readers 2 Leaders and ReadUP. They are two organizations working to increase childhood literacy statistics,” Slye said. “Academic success is a top priority for the Boys and Girls Clubs, so it was a natural fit during the summer.”
He said the pilot program started in the West Dallas club with the local nonprofits and a private donation of $25,000 to focus on access when it comes to high-quality literacy education during the summer. Slye said the team effort was made possible thanks to
“The kids worked in small groups in a community-based environment to see what kind of progress they could make in the six-week period. Readers to Leaders came and tested all 20 kids who participated this summer, and more than half of them needed literacy support at the start of the summer,” Slye said.
Then he said the volunteers engaged the students in 30 to 45 minutes of literacy training throughout the summer. 30 to 45 minutes of literacy training followed through the summer.
“By the end of the summer, across all of the metrics, the students improved. Decodable word work was up 50%, whole word reading was up 20%, and oral reading accuracy was up 10%,” Slye said.
The Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Dallas also received more than 1,200 books that now live at the West Dallas facility for the kids at the club to use. Slye said their hope with the great success they saw in West Dallas is to get more programs funded to roll out to all of their 13 Dallas County sites next summer.