Teacher in a bilingual Schools of Hope classroom

Hannah Pickett saves all of their letters. One of her favorites reads:

"Dear Hannah,

You are the best buddy in the whole wide world. I will miss you when it's the end of the school year. I like being your reading buddy. Don't forget about me when I'm in middle school.

Amanda."

For eight years now, Pickett has spent several hours each week working with minority children who have fallen behind in reading. She's one of hundreds of volunteers in Madison, Wisconsin participating in the Schools of Hope Literacy Project, a program aimed at closing the racial achievement gap. "It's very gratifying to be significant to a child," Pickett explains. "And, there's no doubt it's making a difference."

The data support Pickett's assertion. Since the project began, reading scores of minority children have risen significantly throughout the district.

Bringing the Problem to Light

The problem of a persistent and significant gap between the academic achievement of white students and minority students in Madison first grabbed the attention of the community in 1995 when a local Madison paper, the Wisconsin State Journal, and WISC-TV conducted a joint civic journalism project focusing on the Madison Metropolitan School District, a 53-school district with about 25,000 students. The project revealed, among other things, that minority students in the district scored much lower than white students on standardized tests of reading and math achievement.

Wisconsin State Journal Editor Frank Denton then approached Leslie Ann Howard, the director of the local United Way, to see what could be done to change this.

Howard organized a "leadership team" of community members to address the problem. The team included a wide variety of experts and concerned people including representatives of the Madison Metropolitan School District Board of Education, Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education, 100 Black Men, and Centro Hispano, as well as the mayor, concerned parents, and students. Many attribute the program's success at least partially to this community-wide approach. "Positive things happen when everyone is in alignment," says Kathy Price, partnerships coordinator for the Madison schools and co-director of Schools of Hope.

Studying Up on a National Issue

Before jumping in and taking action, the organizers decided to hit the books themselves to discover what the research said. First, they found that Madison wasn't alone. Racial achievement gaps plague school districts throughout the country. Although the nation as a whole made progress in closing the achievement gap in the 1970s and '80s, since then the gap has largely stagnated or even grown wider.

The current statistics are startling. For example, the average reading score for a black 17-year-old on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) test is roughly equivalent to that of a white 13-year-old. Similarly, by the time Hispanic students are nine years old, their scores, on average, are three grade levels behind white students of the same age.

The leadership team also investigated what had worked in other areas. They found that reading on level by third grade was one of the most important predictors of school success. "Third grade was really a pivotal point," says Kathy Hubbard, community director for United Way and support staff to the leadership team. "Children learn to read until third grade. After that, they read to learn." The Team decided to focus their efforts on improving third-grade reading scores.

Calling on the Community's Strengths

After choosing their focus, the team began developing a program. They formed smaller groups to work with the school district on lowering class sizes and implementing other policy changes. They also decided to take direct action themselves.

"The problem of the achievement gap had been around in our community for 20 years without much progress. Before Schools of Hope, everyone thought it was the school district's job to fix it," Hubbard explains. "We decided to do something that the entire community could rally around."

The team turned to volunteers. "As a community, people here are interested in helping out," Caite Moore, the volunteer coordinator for Schools of Hope, says. "We have a lot of dedicated volunteers. That has really made a difference."

The resulting Schools of Hope Literacy Project, led by the local RSVP (Retired Seniors Volunteer Program), matched up volunteers with children in kindergarten through third grade who needed a little extra help with reading. The local newspaper ran a story describing the program and the need for volunteers. Within a week, 400 people had called United Way to express their willingness to help.

The program began operating in 21 of Madison's 30 elementary schools. A grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service provided funding to hire 21 AmeriCorps*VISTAs (volunteers who receive a living stipend, health insurance, and an education award) to serve as coordinators in each of the schools. When the corporation grant ended after six years, United Way agreed to a cost-sharing program in which they fund the positions while the corporation continues to provide insurance and educational awards to the VISTAs.

Tailoring the Program to Fit Schools & Students

Schools of Hope now operates with an annual budget of $317,000 and in-kind contributions of staff, office space, books and other materials worth about $150,000.

The program works differently at each school depending on the needs of teachers and students. Sometimes volunteers serve as helpers in the classroom. More often, though, the coordinator assigns each volunteer a child to tutor one-on-one throughout the year in weekly sessions. In the quarter ending in March, Schools of Hope utilized 500 volunteers to serve over 3,000 elementary school children in 22 schools and two neighborhood programs.

The program provides training and ongoing support for volunteers. First, volunteers attend a five-hour training workshop, choosing the most relevant class from several offered each session. Classes teach how to help elementary school children with reading, assist middle school children with math, practice cultural sensitivity, or understand the needs of special education students. Once mentors are matched with students, teachers provide detailed instruction based on the individual needs of each child. Finally, the volunteer coordinator talks with the mentors regularly to resolve concerns or answer any questions.

Charting the Results

Now several years into the program, the results are proving that communities can join together to make a difference. Reading scores for minority students have improved dramatically. In 1995, only 4% of white students performed below standard on the third-grade reading test, while almost 29% of Black students did. In 2004, those numbers were 2% and 5%. Similarly, in 1995, 23% of Southeast Asian students performed below standard. Now, that group of low-performers has largely evaporated.

Recently, the school district reported that based on 2004 reading scores, there is no longer a racial achievement gap among students in the lowest performance level. "A lot of things came together to narrow the achievement gap. Schools of Hope was only one piece of the puzzle, but it was an important piece," Price says.

In addition to improving third-grade reading scores, Schools of Hope has had other effects. Many volunteers who started out to make a difference in the life of a child find their own lives changed as well. "Volunteers often say that they feel like they learned more than the child. Some look forward all week to meeting with their child," Moore says.

Isioma Enwemnwa, a six-year-old student in the program, says of his volunteer, "She made learning easier. She made it really fun." In addition, the children benefit from the opportunity to develop meaningful relationships with adults who care about them and spend time with them individually. Matt Paulus, a VISTA volunteer coordinator at one school, says "The children feel special because of the extra attention they receive—even when it's only 30 minutes. It still matters to them."

Extending the Program

Given the success of Schools of Hope in improving reading, the directors began to look for ways to expand their efforts to other grades and other key academic skills. Early expansions included adding fourth and fifth graders into the program. Not long after that, a second big thrust came when volunteers entered several middle schools and shifted their focus to include math skills. "The research told us that the completion of algebra by tenth grade was another important checkpoint. It signified that these students had developed critical thinking skills that were important to employers," Hubbard says.

Recently, the leadership team decided to take their efforts in another direction, creating a new branch of the program they called Preschools of Hope. This program went into effect in September of 2004. Centered on four-year-olds who will enter kindergarten the following year, Preschools of Hope seeks to make sure all children are prepared to start kindergarten. In addition to working with children during the school year, Preschools of Hope also operates an ambitious summer program utilizing dozens of VISTAs.

For the founders of Schools of Hope, the numbers and the growth are exciting. But for many, the real success is best seen in individual children. Sitting at a cafeteria table in Frank Allis Elementary School, ten-year-old Shanita Williams sums it up best. "My volunteer helped me with my reading and writing. My grades got better. Now, I love to read."

• For more information about Schools of Hope, visit their website at: http://www.mmsd.org/soh or http://www.uwdc.org/Learn/learn_schools.htm
• For more information about the racial achievement gap, visit the website of the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory or read a report from the Center on Education Policy

Leslie Albrecht Huber is a freelance writer currently relocating from Madison, Wisconsin to Valencia, Spain.