Indy students will get reading help through new $1M tutoring program

Indiana's literacy rate for students finishing third grade is near the lowest point in almost the past decade. The city of Indianapolis announced a $1 million partnership Tuesday with local school districts and community groups to support young readers. 

The Circle City Readers initiative aims to expand intensive tutoring for 1,000 kindergarten through third graders in charter schools, as well as the Indianapolis Public Schools district and Metropolitan School District of Warren Township. The idea for the partnership between schools and community groups is based on a similar initiative in Oakland, California.

The program will use American Rescue Plan Act pandemic funds approved for use by the City-County Council. Last December the city announced a partnership with similar funds to provide community-led wraparound services to elementary students in the Far Eastside. 

Literacy skills of elementary students is a renewed focal point for education and civic leaders. Test results show nearly 1 in 5 Indiana third graders lack strong vocabularies and phonics. 

Around 40,000 Indianapolis students aren’t reading on grade level, said Jasmin Shaheed-Young, president of RISE INDY – an education advocacy group that will facilitate the reading program.

The Mayor's Office of Education Innovation and RISE Indy will design the program. Shaheed-Young said they will work with the school districts to identify which students will qualify for the program. Tutors will work with students in small groups for one hour several times per week, and the organizations hope to begin the program in January. 

“What we're excited about is there is actually an opportunity to look at the different programs that are being offered to students around literacy, and really taking this next year to look at what programs are really helping kids actually reach reading proficiency,” said Shaheed-Young.

IPS Superintendent Aleesia Johnson said it will take the entire community to help improve low literacy rates. 

“We need to continue to ensure students have all the support needed to become not just readers, but critical thinkers and explorers — curious about the world that lies within the pages of the books that they read,” Johnson said at a press conference announcing the program. 

Less than 63 percent of IPS third graders passed this year’s IREAD test.

“And we know that it will take not just those of us in schools, but also our broader community to come alongside our schools in these efforts to ensure we cultivate strong readers in our city,” Johnson said. 

Mayor Joe Hogsett said the city is excited to help improve literacy rates for students in low-income communities of color and address “one of the most foundational concerns for a community.” 

Tim Hanson, superintendent of Warren Township, said it will take time until schools fully understand the impacts of remote and hybrid learning during the pandemic. But he and others believe this opportunity will set students up for success. Earlier this year, 82 percent of Warren third graders passed the IREAD test.

Circle City Readers is funded for one year, but Shaheed-Young said conversations with private philanthropists are underway in the hopes the program will continue past 2023. 

Contact WFYI education reporter Elizabeth Gabriel at egabriel@wfyi.org. Follow on Twitter: @_elizabethgabs.