Written by Joyce Jian, Senior Program Manager, with contributions from Shea Copeland, Manager of Development and Communications, and Danielle Guindo, Executive Director

Teachers are central to the Read Alliance model, as they provide the expertise and mentorship in the classrooms where the teen tutors are working one-on-one with the striving young readers. They are the lynchpin to the families, and are often the participants’ teachers during the regular school day, which provides important continuity to their literacy journey.

A close look at how two longstanding READ teachers have made a difference to the children in their programs sheds light on what makes the READ partnership with educators so important – and why literacy ecosystems that connect school day instruction with science-backed complementary supports advances literacy outcomes.

Connection with School Culture

At 3:15 p.m., the hallways of PS 154X in the Bronx begin to buzz with excitement. Teen Leaders — high school students hired and trained by Read Alliance as individual reading tutors — file into the classroom and prepare for another afternoon of one-on-one reading instruction with their students who are Kindergarten, first, and second graders striving to read. Standing at the center of it all are two veteran teachers, Ms. Maldonado and Ms. Grant. For more than a decade, they have helped make the Read Alliance program a success at PS 154X.

“My role in ensuring the program was a success was that I held the Teen Leaders accountable to the fidelity and integrity of the program — whether it was the proper collection of the data or making sure Teen Leaders used MOY (My Turn, Our Turn, Your Turn) consistently and did the comprehension checks correctly and made sure everyone had fun during the process," says Ms. Grant.

My Turn, Our Turn, Your Turn refers to the strategy that empowers the Teen Leaders to instruct their reader to practice a sound or word. My Turn: the teen says the word first slowly, so the letters and sounds are clear; Our Turn: the teen invites the reader to say the word with them, also slowly; Your Turn, the reader is empowered to say the word themself. The pattern is repeated once more, faster, so that the sound is captured and cemented. This is one of the practice strategies READ teachers oversee, to ensure it is being implemented with fidelity and to encourage the teen leader and reader pairs on their learning journey together.

Elementary school teachers who believe in teenagers as much as they believe in the young students are perfect for the Read Alliance program. Not only do they empower and encourage the Teen Leaders in their roles, but they provide examples of what successful teaching careers can look like.

Peter Castro, a Senior Teen Leader, says, “Ms. Maldonado and Ms. Grant have shown that they care about their students’ education. They give Teen Leaders helpful advice when tutoring the students. I enjoyed working with both teachers because they taught me how to better understand children and this will be very helpful to me if I were to choose a career in education. They are both very understanding and have shown great patience with students, Teen Leaders, and Senior Teen Leaders dealing with multiple tasks at once.”

With programs in all 5 boroughs, and in nearly 30 unique elementary schools, READ teachers are relied upon to ensure the model runs well and efficiently. Before Read Alliance can launch at any partner school, two dedicated and mission-aligned teachers are needed to work as a team to oversee the program on a daily basis. These teachers are trained on the Read Alliance model, the structured phonics curriculum used in the program, and the strategies to support additional practice for letters and word sounds.

As representatives of their school, they understand the culture, have relationships with the families, are familiar with each students’ strengths, challenges, and individual needs. READ is a unique out of school time program that relies heavily on school day professionals to seamlessly connect the work of the day school and after school.

Belief in the Power and Potential of Teens

Being a READ teacher means not only knowing the young students, and keeping an eye on their development as they progress in the Read Alliance program, it’s also about facilitating the bond that forms between the near-peer tutoring pairs. Young readers are often paired with teen leaders who share the same first language, as the teens’ lived experience and language journey can reflect that of their reader, further promoting a bond that promotes a love of learning, and a confidence to try what may at first feel scary.

“Teachers are important to the Read Alliance program because they know their student population and can offer Teen Leaders helpful insights or engagement unique to each child. They match students with Teen Leaders who may be better equipped to maximize a certain student’s potential based on their observations of the Teen Leaders’ work ethic and rapport with the kids. They also provide guidance to Teen Leaders and Senior Teen Leaders on how to build rapport with their students.” —Ms. Grant, 154X Read Teacher

The Little (and Big!) Things

Both Ms. Maldonado and Ms. Grant have demonstrated their natural creativity to help build the unique learning relationships between the teens and readers that is a central ingredient to the success of the Read Alliance program. Strategies like posting reminders on sticky notes throughout the classroom for Teen Leaders to fill in their name, school, and future goals creates a welcoming environment where everyone feels valued. Celebrating wins – small and large – for both the young readers and the teen leaders are embedded in the culture of their READ classrooms.

For Ms. Maldonado, one of the most rewarding parts of Read Alliance is watching both students and Teen Leaders grow, “I enjoy working with Read Alliance for various reasons. I love to see the growth students make from the beginning [to the] end of the program. The relationships the students build with their tutors is heartwarming to see. In addition, the tutors also grow a lot throughout the program. I feel that at first they are not quite sure what they signed up for and the big responsibility that the position of a tutor has. But as the months go by, I see a lot of the tutors start to see their impact and start to build more confidence in themselves. By the end of the program, some tutors are even considering going into education.” For Read Alliance, this is an important and celebrated – and supported – outcome of the tutoring experience. Working alongside teachers like Ms. Maldonado and Ms. Grant is an important influence in some of their future planning.

Ms. Grant finds the relationship of working in the READ program equally meaningful, “I enjoy building relationships with the kids and the Teen Leaders. I loved seeing…Teen Leaders…excited to do the work. I enjoyed when the kids stopped me in the hall… and asked me if we are having Read Alliance [that day]. It tells me they are locked in and see the program as beneficial to them. I loved how excited the students got as they moved through the sets, received their certificates or earned their prizes for the week. I also loved recommending Teen Leaders to the position of Senior Teen Leaders after observing how they show up daily; how they interact with their students they are paired with and their flexibility when a student might need extra support.”

The role of Senior Teen Leader has more responsibility; these more experienced Teen Leaders serve as additional peer support for the other Teen Leaders working in the program. The Senior Teen Leader is the READ teacher’s right hand.

While the students and tutors are often the faces of the program, none of it would be possible without dedicated READ teachers. The teachers’ dedication makes lasting growth possible—for students, Teen Leaders, and the entire school community.

“The program has helped our school because we are a partnership; our students benefit from the one-to-one reading intervention. Students are more confident with their reading and use what they learned in Read Alliance during the school day," says Ms. Maldonado. That partnership is everything, and the READ teacher role is the glue that holds it together.