DESIGN
AND
PHILOSOPHY
OF
VARIOUS
AMERICA
READS
SITES:
FINDINGS
AND
DIALOGUES
Richard
M.
Oldrieve,
Ph.D.
In
1996,
during
a
re-‐election
rally
held
in
Wyandotte,
Michigan,
President
Clinton
issued
his
America
Reads
Challenge
(America
Reads,
2011).
The
setting,
circumstances,
and
content
of
the
August
26th,
1996
announcement
were
deliberately
designed
to
conjure
up
allusions
to
President
John
F.
Kennedy’s
1960
midnight
campaign
stop
at
the
University
of
Michigan,
where
Kennedy
issued
his
Peace
Corps
Challenge
(Peace
Corps,
2011).
Much
as
Kennedy’s
Peace
Corps
encouraged
America’s
youth
to
build
democracy
and
human
bridges
in
foreign
lands,
so
Clinton’s
America
Reads
Challenge
encourages
college
students
and
other
volunteers
to
build
academic
skills
and
mentoring
relationships
by
tutoring
at-‐risk
students
here
in
America.
Like
the
Peace
Corps,
America
Reads
offers
many
tutors
a
small
living
stipend
and
tuition
voucher
through
Vista/Americorps
grants;
others
are
paid
an
hourly
wage
as
part
of
their
work-‐study
award.
America
Reads
also
encourages
older,
more
mature
executives
and
professionals
to
sign
on
as
unpaid
volunteers.
The
most
important
similarity
between
America
Reads
Challenge
and
the
Peace
Corps
Challenge
is
that
there
is
great
potential
for
benefit
for
everyone
involved.
The
tutees
stand
to
gain
because
they
can
become
better
readers
and
garner
the
mentorship
of
an
adult
role
model
who
is
earning
a
college
degree.
The
tutors
stand
to
gain
because
they
can
get
paid
to
experience
the
joys
and
tribulations
of
working
with
at-‐risk
students.
Society
and
the
reading
profession
stand
to
gain
because
tutoring
could
help
reduce
the
Matthew
Effect
(1996)
that
plagues
at-‐risk
students
and
school
districts.
Fifteen
years
ago,
the
enthusiasm
for
America
For
14
years,
Richard
Oldrieve
taught
Reads
inspired
many
other
politicians
from
across
the
students
with
learning
disabilities
in
political
spectrum
to
propose
and
implement
similar
Cleveland
schools.
This
study
sought
programs—for
example
even
though
both
Kennedy
and
sustainable
America
Reads
programs
Clinton
were
Democratic
Presidents,
Republican
that
enable
at-‐risk
students
to
talk
governors
such
as
Ohio’s
Robert
Taft
promoted
tutoring
books
and
build
fluency.
Oldrieve
programs
inspired
by
America
Reads.
Taft’s
OhioReads
tutoring
program
was
part
of
a
wider
Literacy
Initiative
earned
his
doctorate
in
Early
(Ohio
Department
of
Education,
2000).
Other
states
in
Childhood
Literacy
from
Kent
State
the
Mid
West
that
developed
tutoring
programs
based
University.
He
currently
teaches
ECE
on
the
America
Reads
model
include
Illinois,
Iowa,
Literacy
Assessment
and
K-‐12
Phonics
Kansas,
Michigan,
and
Missouri.
at
Bowling
Green
State
University.
The
concept
of
uncertified
adults
tutoring
students
has
its
origins
in
Keith
Topping’s
work
on
“Paired”
or
“Shared”
reading
(Oxley
&
Topping,
1990;
Topping,
1998;
&
Topping.
&
Whiteley,
1990).
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