Last year in Newark Mayor Ras Baraka declared an “urgent literacy crisis” that has eased only slightly: According to last spring’s standardized test scores, 23% of third graders enrolled in Newark Public Schools district passed the English language arts assessment, four points higher than in 2023 but still well below levels necessary for future academic success. In response to this ongoing need, last month Greenlight Fund Greater Newark announced a $600,000 investment to help improve literacy by bringing in Reading Partners, a 25 year-old national non-profit with a research-driven mission to have students reading at grade-level by fourth grade.

New Jersey Education Report spoke to the CEO of Reading Partners, Adeola Whitney, to discuss an initiative that uses one-on-one consistent tutoring in order to provide students with equitable access to literacy instruction. Here is our Q&A, lightly edited:

How will Reading Partners address Newark’s literacy crisis?

According to Whitney, the literacy crisis is so widespread, far beyond Newark, because our “education systems in the US have inequitably distributed access to quality educational resources among students based on systemic barriers often related to race and socioeconomic status.” (In New Jersey these barriers are most often tied to our system of red-lining, or assigning students to one of 600 school districts based on ZIP codes which closely correlate with income levels.)

To address these inequities, Reading Partners is offering something different: “a citywide solution that centers students and foundational literacy in order to make a meaningful difference.” 

Whitney explains,

 “One of the core ways Reading Partners will help address Newark’s literacy crisis is by leveraging our proven, evidence-based, one-on-one tutoring model, which has helped students in similar under-resourced communities across the country successfully improve their literacy skills and confidence over the past 25 years. By offering tailored literacy instruction to meet each student’s unique needs, Reading Partners applies a solution commensurate to the challenge of helping close an opportunity gap created by multi-generational systemic inequities.”

She adds, “in cities similar to Newark, Reading Partners has consistently helped over 80% of students achieve their literacy growth targets.”

In order to achieve those growth targets, her organization developed an online tutoring platform called Reading Partners Connects that other nonprofits, schools, and organizations can access through  Powered by Reading Partners. “We’ve seen first-hand how closing literacy gaps early can set students on a path to academic and lifelong success, and we look forward to our programs being part of a community wide success story for Newark,” says Whitney.

Elsewhere Whitney has called reading a civil right.

How will the Reading Partners programs be implemented in Newark?

Whitney describes a “multi-faceted approach that will include collaborations with a wide network of partners including community-based organizations, families and parents, charter schools, and Newark Public School district and schools.” Reading Partners will begin by recruiting community tutors—some paid and some volunteer—to give students one-on-one literacy support. Key to this is engaging parents and caregivers, which will happen through family literacy workshops to nurture a love of reading. The goals are ambitious:

“Over the next four years, we aim to help support 4,500 students and facilitate family literacy workshops for 3,700 families in Newark, with the goal of helping at least 80% of students achieve their literacy growth targets. Based on my nearly two decades of experience working in Newark—where I have seen people consistently show up for one another in ways that feel unique for a big city—I am confident that the community will rally behind early literacy, and I am excited for Reading Partners to join this extended family of support for Newark’s elementary school students.”

Tutors will work with students for 45 minutes twice a week using Reading Partners’ curriculum, which fully incorporates the Science of Reading. 

How will Reading Partners train tutors?

Tutors will complete a comprehensive training program (after background checks), as well as an orientation centered on social-emotional learning and educational equity to ensure that students are being holistically supported. After that, tutors receive ongoing coaching and support throughout the school year to ensure they can effectively meet each student’s individual needs.

How will student progress be tracked?

Student progress will be tracked through assessments administered at the beginning, middle, and end of the school year, explains Whitney. These assessments help ensure that (1) students enter the program at the right level, (2) tutors are advised about how to best support their students, and (3) students make measurable progress throughout the year.

Reading Partners also tracks literacy growth goals. Last year alone, Whitney says, 91% of K-2 students and 87% of all students in the direct tutoring programs met or exceeded their primary literacy growth goals and more than three quarters of students who received tutoring through Powered by Reading Partners showed literacy growth.

With Greenlight Fund’s assistance, the Newark community is showing up for each other to ” set students on a path to academic and lifelong success.”