Season for Sharing: Circle City Readers provides small-group tutoring for K-3 students
Growing up with undiagnosed attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Matthew Anderson faced hurdles in school and didn’t always get the extra push he needed to succeed.
He worked in the manufacturing industry after graduating high school on the east side of Indianapolis, then Anderson switched careers. He is now a tutor with Circle City Readers.
The program works with kindergarten through third grade students in Marion County who need additional help with reading skills. For Anderson, tutoring through Circle City Readers is fulfilling, as he remembers struggling with reading in school himself.
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“My attention was not there and a program like this would not have cured my ADHD, but it would've given me an extra opportunity to make a mistake and learn from that,” said Anderson, who is now 51.
Circle City Readers had its initial pilot program in two schools in the spring then expanded into more schools in the Indianapolis Public Schools district, Warren Township and three charter schools.
Brooke Arnett-Holman taught as an elementary school teacher in Indianapolis for eight years before taking on the position of director of Circle City Readers, which is run through the City of Indianapolis.
"It was there in the classroom I realized I needed to do more,” Arnett-Holman said. “The students I was seeing the last three or four years, it was obvious there was a need for extra help with reading."
The program was created with $1 million from the city’s American Rescue Plan funds that were approved by the City-County Council last year. Indiana’s early literacy proficiency rates have lagged over the past three years since scores took a big hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, but proficiency rates have been steadily falling for the past decade.
Previous coverage: Small-group reading tutoring coming to Indy area schools with goal of reaching 800 kids
“Reading is fundamental,” Arnett-Holman said. “Knowing the adversity many of the students we serve are facing, it's personal to me. It's about empowering the youths to excel.”
What is your organization's mission?
Circle City Reader’s mission is to enhance the foundational literacy skills of students in kindergarten through third grade.
“With the impact of COVID and other factors with student learning loss, we just wanted to adhere to those needs,” Arnett-Holman said.
How many people do you serve?
Circle City Readers currently serves about 475 students with 34 tutors. The goal is to expand the program and hire more tutors so that 800 students can take part by the end of the school year.
What is your organization’s No. 1 need?
The program is hiring more tutors. The positions are paid and applicants should have a high school diploma. Training for new tutors is provided by Circle City Readers.
Tutors work 16 to 22 hours per week and are paid $22 an hour.
The program can also use donations of supplies, such as books, whiteboards and index cards, Arnett-Holman said.
How can people get involved?
Anyone interested in applying to become a tutor can send a resume and cover letter to brooke.arnett-holman@indy.gov. Those interested in making a donation of supplies to the program can also contact Arnett-Holman.
Make a difference with IndyStar: Give to Season for Sharing
The shared mission of IndyStar’s Our Children initiative and annual Season for Sharing campaign is to harness the power of journalism to make a difference in the lives of Central Indiana youth.
Indiana’s third-grade reading assessment, known as IREAD-3, showed one in five Hoosier students — over 14,000 children — cannot read by the end of third grade. That’s why, with this year’s campaign, we’re focusing on the importance of reading as a foundation for lifelong success. Funds raised by this campaign will be awarded to initiatives promoting reading and literacy in Central Indiana.
Join us in giving at indystar.com/ocdonate. If you prefer to send a check, please mail it to: Central Indiana Community Foundation, Attn: Our Children, 615 N. Alabama St., Suite 300, Indianapolis, IN 46204. You can also text SHARING to 80888.
About Circle City Readers
Contact information: brooke.arnett-holman@indy.gov
Website: circlecityreaders.org
Contact Jake Allen at jake.allen@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jake_Allen19.
IndyStar reporter Caroline Beck contributed to this article.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Season for Sharing: Circle City Readers provides small-group tutoring
