SCALE 2012-13 Annual Report

THE STUDENT COALITION FOR ACTION IN LITERACY EDUCATION

Annual Report 2012-2013

THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL

SPONSORS

Special thanks to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School

of Education, SCALE’s home, for their unwavering support.

And to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Office of

Scholarships and Student Aid.

To the Thomas S. Kenan III Foundation and the Four Feather Fund for

providing the matching funds for 2012 fundraising campaign.

To our founders and past directors Clay Thorp, Lisa Madry, Ed Chaney,

and Kathy Sikes for their continued support for SCALE.

To the Strowd Roses Foundation

The Morgan Creek Foundation

Youth Service America

And the Corporation for National and Community Service and the North

Carolina Commission on Volunteerism and Service

And to the 30 individual donors in 2012 who help SCALE meet its match

to successfully complete its first major fundraising campaign in almost

15 years!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sponsors __________________________________________________________________________________________________ ii

Table of Contents ________________________________________________________________________________________ iii

A Year in Numbers ________________________________________________________________________________________ 1

Executive Summary ______________________________________________________________________________________ 2

About Scale ________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3

Why Literacy? _____________________________________________________________________________________________ 4

America Reads and Counts ______________________________________________________________________________ 5

North Carolina LiteracyCorps ___________________________________________________________________________ 7

Read.Write.Act Conference ______________________________________________________________________________ 9

National Literacy Action Week ________________________________________________________________________ 11

Global Youth Service Day ______________________________________________________________________________ 13

Online Training Series__________________________________________________________________________________ 15

Student Groups _________________________________________________________________________________________ 16

SCALE Staff ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 17

A YEAR IN NUMBERS

>600 Volunteers

received training through one of

SCALE’s programs

Students, AmeriCorps members, and the

volunteers they recruited gave

>95,000 hours of

service

>4,300 learners

impacted receiving direct service tutoring or other

literacy resources.

>200

Organizations participated or received support through

SCALE events.

Across 23 states

Giving individuals the

resources and skills

they need to empower

themselves to build

more just

communities for all

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2012-2013 has been a great year for the Student Coalition for Action in Literacy

Education. Just to name a few accomplishments, in America Reads and Counts, 32

undergraduate tutors contributed 4,003.75 hours of tutoring and training to over 100

students in pre-K, elementary, and middle schools in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and

Orange County. In AmeriCorps, 38 members contributed 40,000 hours of service in 6

different counties. Over 50 people from 14 states and 2 countries attended

Read.Write.Act conference. 21 National Literacy Action Week events occurred across

the United States, including 5 that SCALE funded with mini-grants. 1,029 youth

volunteered 6,992 hours for Global Youth Service Day, directly benefiting 1,500

people, 55 K-12 schools and 32 outside partners. We celebrate the accomplishments

of our tutors and learners.

It is not easy being a nonprofit or a university program. State and federal support,

through grants, work-study awards, and university funds and in-kind support,

continues to be reduced. We are required to do more with less. We know that our

ability to train students and young professionals to become high-quality tutors and

nonprofit professionals is a critical component to addressing the literacy needs of our

country. So we will continue to do what we do, despite the challenges ahead of us.

This annual report contains a summary of the program activities and outcomes for

2012 and for the first half of 2013. We are restructuring our annual reports around the

program and fiscal year instead of the calendar year. Enjoy the double-feature and be

sure to check out our website (redesigned this year!) at http://readwriteact.org.

Thanks for your continued support.

Executive Director Megan McCurley with former President Bill Clinton

SCALE founders Clay Thorp and Lisa Madry with former president George H.W. Bush

ABOUT SCALE The history of the Student Coalition for Action in Literacy Education (SCALE) begins

with its founding in the fall of 1989 when two Carolina undergraduate tutors, Lisa Madry

and Clay Thorp, joined together to mobilize and support college students who wanted

to address the literacy needs of this country. They were inspired by the great tradition

of student activism and saw literacy as a social justice issue.

While literacy education interested many students like

Lisa and Clay, there was no national organization to

support their programs or to network their leaders.

Fueled by the belief that young people could have an

impact on literacy, become leaders on their campuses,

and raise awareness of literacy as a social justice issue,

Clay and Lisa founded SCALE.

From its inception SCALE has been at the core of a

robust network of campus-based literacy programs

that fully involves students and their learners. Over the years, distinctive programs

have offered in-depth trainings and resources to program administrators and

participants and have provided opportunities for the exchange of information and ideas

around the country. We promote a participatory, learner-centered approach to literacy

in which power in the program and in the classroom is shared with learners, volunteers,

and community members. Shared decision making – about lesson content, choice of

reading materials, or program evaluation – makes our outreach more relevant to

individual and community literacy needs.

Today, SCALE sponsors Read. Write. Act., the

annual and only national conference specifically

for campus-based literacy programs and their

community partners, and National Literacy

Action Week, in order to increase awareness of

this country’s literacy needs and to highlight the

crucial role of college students in the literacy

movement. Current programs include America

Reads and Counts, the North Carolina LiteracyCorps and a partnership local campus-

based literacy programs, including the Carolina Language Partnership, MANO and

Project Literacy. In addition, SCALE offers a comprehensive resource library, a useful

toolkit including training workshop agendas, online trainings and technical assistance

for programs around the country.

Founder Clay Thorp at a ceremony honoring SCALE as one of the first Points of Light

Read.Write.Act tee-shirts for sale in 1994

WHY LITERACY? Because it is the foundation for every social justice effort we can and should engage in.

All people need some form of literacy in

order to be engaged in the fight for social

justice, whether the cause be education,

immigration, LGBT issues, women’s rights,

economic justice or racial justice.

By supporting the literacy needs of our

country, SCALE works to provide the tools

necessary to vote, speak out about issues

that matter to us, protect us against

discrimination and help our children succeed

in school.

SCALE is helping to empower individuals to

make change and to build better lives within

our communities.

65% of 4th-graders continue to score below

proficiency in reading

33% of all children – and more than 50% of

low-income and minority youth – fail to

graduate high school on time

Only 33% of high school graduates have the

skills needed to succeed in college and

the workforce

Only 10% of minority students who enroll in

college will graduate

59 million adults – 16% of the world’s

population – have only basic or below

basic literacy levels

66% of the world’s lowest literacy adults are women*

*www.cms.americaspromise.org, www.proliteracy.org/

AMERICA READS AND COUNTS America Reads began in 1997 when President Clinton signed the America Reads

Challenge Act. The America Reads

& Counts program at UNC-Chapel

Hill is managed by the Student

Coalition for Action in Literacy

Education (SCALE) and currently

serves children preK through 8th

grade. Now in its 16th year of

operation, the program hires UNC-

Chapel Hill undergraduate

students as tutors to provide

classroom support and individual

instruction to struggling and at-

risk students, with a focus on

those who do not qualify for or

receive specialized support

services and interventions.

The main goal of SCALE’s America Reads & Counts is to support parents, teachers and

staff in helping children achieve their reading goals by providing literacy tutors trained

in research-based methods.

SCALE’s America Reads & Counts program currently partners with 6 local elementary

schools, 1 day-care and 1 middle

school. SCALE provides high-quality,

research-based trainings to our

America Reads and Counts tutors

throughout the school year. During

the year, tutors received 29 hours of

professional development training

provided by 4 experienced UNC

graduate assistants and SCALE staff.

Tutors also participated in the Read.

Write. Act. Virtual Conference, an

opportunity to receive training from literacy leaders across the United States. Returning

tutors who had proven to be excellent tutors supported new tutors as Lead Tutors,

assuming responsibilities such as sharing their own trainings during team meetings and

leading event-planning for Global Youth Service Day.

President Bill Clinton signed the America Reads Challenge Act

A tutor and tutee at Estes Hills Elementary

2012-2013 Results

32 undergraduate tutors contributed 4,003.75 hours of tutoring and training.

100 students in pre-K, elementary, and middle schools in Chapel Hill, Carrboro,

and Orange County received tutoring

The average reading levels of students tutored the whole year by increase 1.36,

and those tutored one semester increase an average of .47

8 America Reads tutors also served as AmeriCorps members in SCALE’s North

Carolina LiteracyCorps, contributing over 300 hours of service through additional

events such as Make a Difference Day, the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service,

and AmeriCorps Week

100% parents surveyed about their children’s participation in the program agreed

or strongly agreed that:

o [their] child’s confidence in reading has improved

o [their]child has an increased interest in learning

88% of teachers noticed a positive change in reading achievement

75% noticed a change in attitude towards reading

100% of math teachers noticed a positive change in attitudes regarding math,

and a change in confidence towards math abilities among those students working

with America Counts tutors

Read more at: http://americareads.web.unc.edu/files/2012/07/America-Reads-and-Counts-2012-13.pdf

http://americareads.web.unc.edu/files/2012/07/America-Reads-and-Counts-2012-13.pdf

NORTH CAROLINA LITERACYCORPS

Funded through a grant from the

North Carolina Commission on

Volunteerism and Community

Service, the North Carolina

LiteracyCorps places Full-time,

Part-time and Minimum-time

AmeriCorps Members at campus

and community organization

across the state, in order to

serve as tutors, teachers, and volunteer managers.

AmeriCorps members provide direct-service

tutoring and teaching to youth, adolescents,

adults, and English-language learners to help

them improve their literacy skills. Members

also build their service sites’ program

capacity through helping recruit, train, and

manage volunteers and volunteer tutors.

Additionally, North Carolina LiteracyCorps

members participate in service projects

throughout the year to further give back to

their communities and engage volunteers.

The North Carolina LiteracyCorps provides high-quality, research-based trainings to

members throughout the program year. Members meet quarterly for face-to-face

trainings and also attend additional,

virtual trainings. During the 2012-

2013 program year, each member

received more than 40 hours of

training in topics such as effective

literacy practices, civic

engagement, volunteer recruitment

and retention, successful

communication, working with

diverse populations, disability

inclusion, program evaluation,

CPR/First Aid, and conflict

resolution.

The NCLC member “helped improve

our training, expanded our

curriculum, and facilitated program

administration. Her contributions,

which are invaluable, have enhanced

the quality and effectiveness of our

program.”

–NCLC Site supervisor

2012-2013 Results*

A total of 38 members (made up of Full-time, Part-time, and Minimum-Time

members) were enrolled and served more than 40,000 hours.

Members recruited 993 volunteers who contributed a total of 39,487 volunteer hours.

Members and the volunteers they recruited provided 1,329 economically

disadvantaged adults with job training and skill development services, such as ABE,

GED, and ESOL instruction.

Members and the volunteers they recruited enrolled 508 K-12 students in a NC

LiteracyCorps sponsored program.

The program achieved a 102.6% member recruitment rate and an 82% member

retention rate.

100% of members reported that they planned to continue community service after

completing their AmeriCorps service.

100% of members reported that they made a positive impact in their community.

For the 2013-2014 service year, the NC LiteracyCorps is partnering with 15 sites across

the state: Alamance Community College, AVID Program—Chapel Hill-Carrboro City

Schools, Blue Ribbon Mentor-Advocate Program, Duke University, Durham Literacy

Center, Jackson Center, Literacy Connections of Wayne County, Literacy Council of

Buncombe County, North Carolina State University Women’s Center, Orange County

Literacy Council, Reading Connections High Point, Reading Connections of Greensboro,

Sacrificial Poets,

SCALE, and Wilkes

County Community in

Schools.

*as of June 31, 2013

X X X X X X

X

X

READ.WRITE.ACT CONFERENCE SCALE hosted our fifth annual

Read. Write. Act. Virtual

Conference on November 1st–3rd

2012, focusing on the theme of

“Literacy as a National Priority.”

SCALE continues to evolve the

Read.Write.Act conference to

best fit the needs of campus and

community based literacy

leaders. This year we hosted the

first two days of the conference

virtually, and hosted a

networking lunch and panel

discussions on the last day.

Presentations came from of variety of perspectives including university faculty, literacy

program directors, student leaders, graduate students, and staff for both local and

national service organizations. Twenty presentations were chosen from proposals

submitted to SCALE’s national call for presenters.

Virtual conference topics included:

· Adult Education

· Advocacy Tools

· English Language Learners

· Literacy Practices

· Tutoring

· Volunteer Management

· Health Literacy

The two panels on Saturday featured elected officials and education professionals from

around North Carolina discussing how to effectively promote literacy as national

priority.

The virtual conference format has been highly effective in

recruiting high-quality presenters due to its flexibility in

addressing both time and budget considerations. Prior to

the conference, SCALE provided presenters with intensive

training on planning and delivering their content through

the virtual format. Presenters reported a high level of

satisfaction with their virtual conference experience.

88 participants registered for this year’s conference,

representing more than 50 organizations in 14 states and

2 countries. Attendees included college student tutors,

faculty, community partners, and AmeriCorps members.

Attendees reported high levels of satisfaction with the

2012 Read. Write. Act. Virtual Conference, with 88% of

respondents reporting that the conference met or

exceeded their expectations. Attendees were very

pleased with the variety of presentations, the preparation

of presenters, and responses to questions they posed in

the conference.

“Thanks for the

opportunity! You guys

have the virtual

conference model

down - simple and

seamless—keep up the

great work!”

-Presenter

“Brainstorming

strategies with other

participants during

interactive parts of

presentations was one

of the best parts of

the conference!”

-Participant

“I really enjoyed the

in person networking

event. I felt the

presenters had

valuable things to say

from their fields, and

the variety of

presenters offered

dynamic

perspectives.”

-Participant

GUESTS SAID…

NATIONAL LITERACY ACTION WEEK National Literacy Action Week (NLAW) is a week during which campus literacy programs

across the country join together to raise awareness about literacy and create change

on their campuses and communities.

2012 29 campus and/or community events

occurred during the week in 4 different

states throughout the United States. Events

included:

a health literacy fair

book drives

a read-a-thon

a literacy trivia night

voter registration drives

a literacy documentary

bookmark-making events

new tutor orientations and trainings

a math literacy event

SCALE hosted the NLAW 2012 Virtual Conference, which discussed topics about

advocating for literacy and education at local and national levels. Various social media

campaigns were utilized across the country during NLAW to promote how essential

literacy is, share resources related to literacy, recruit volunteers for literacy efforts,

and engage college and university students in literacy advocacy.

2012 Social Media

40 distinct Twitter users either

tweeted or re-tweeted posts using

the #NLAW hashtag.

Tweets that contained the hashtag

#NLAW reached 86,163 people.

Over 50 posts were made on

Facebook about NLAW, which

reached at least 841 people.

10 blog posts about NLAW and NLAW

events were made on SCALE’s blog

2013 21 campus and/or community events occurred in

4 different states during the week, including:

financial literacy game for middle school

students

Scrabble fundraiser for a literacy

nonprofit

sidewalk chalking literacy facts

health literacy promotions

literacy advocacy movie screenings

new books and Build-A-Bears to UNC

hospital children

documentary of elementary students saying why literacy is important

SCALE hosted two Webinars, a history of literacy to the civil rights movement by Shane

Hand, a PhD student at the University of Southern Mississippi, and a presentation from

Julieta Garibay with United We Dream about how literacy affects DREAMers. On social

media, multiple people posted literacy facts and

uploaded pictures to our Facebook page showing

them holding a sign of “What literacy means to

you.”

Additionally, this year SCALE gave mini-grants of

up to $200 for student groups organizing a literacy

advocacy event. We gave 5 grants in 2013, and

plan to continue the program next year.

2013 Social Media

38,080 Twitter accounts were

reached with #NLAW from

270 tweets, 55 contributors

over 8 days.

Facebook received 180 likes,

reaching 93,106 friends of

fans. 15 people talked about

SCALE, bringing the weekly

total reach to 827.

GLOBAL YOUTH SERVICE DAY Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) is an

annual campaign established in 1988 that

celebrates and mobilizes millions of youth

who improve their communities through

service and Service-Learning. In 2012 and

2013, SCALE was named one of 115 GYSD

lead agencies and received a $2,000 planning grant to lead a coalition of community

partners around the state to organize the second annual North Carolina Day of Reading.

The North Carolina Day of Reading project combines GYSD’s mission to promote and

support youth service and SCALE’s mission to develop leaders who are agents of change

while promoting literacy as a social justice issue.

2012 Middle and high school youth volunteers in Orange County organized and planned

for author Ashley Bryan to read and speak with youth participants.

AmeriCorps members and youth in Wake County featured circle time reading and

other activities to promote literacy among youth.

Youth volunteers in Durham County held a fair to promote the importance of

literacy not only in school but also at home.

Youth in the Piedmont Triad held a literacy event in downtown Greensboro where

they set up reading stations for different grade levels.

In Wayne County, youth collaborated with the Boys and Girls Club (BGC) of Wayne

County to hold a Literacy Fair at each BGC in the county and in a neighboring

county to promote literacy.

2012 NC Day of Reading

involved:

· 134 youth volunteers

· 762 people served

· 1,973 books given away to

low-income families

· 21 community organizations

· 8 institutions of higher

education

2013 Durham County held a literacy fair, including

a story time, literacy bookmarks, and teacher

appreciate week thank you cards.

High Point led youth in literacy- and service-

themed crafts, then screened the movie The Lorax.

Orange County partnered with the high school

Unity Club to hold an advocacy event, with activities

such as tutees reading social justice stories.

Wake County invited a North Carolina State

University football player to read social-justice

themed stories to youth, then had youth write and

illustrate social-justice-themed stories of their own.

Wayne County led youth in activities such as

Thank You cards to veterans and assembling

Veteran’s Day fans.

“I really enjoyed

interacting with the

younger

students. They

seemed, despite their

young ages, to have a

really firm grasp of the

deeper meaning of the

event, beyond all the

pageantry. Namely,

that service to others

can both be

empowering and

gratifying—that when

it comes from a purely

altruistic place, the

rewards can often

outstrip the effort.”

-AmeriCorps member

ONLINE TRAINING SERIES In September 2012, SCALE kicked

off a new online training series

featuring live, interactive web-

based sessions on some of the most

pressing issues in literacy

education. To date SCALE has

hosted 20 webinars, attended by

over 380 people worldwide and

featuring topics such as:

Health Literacy in the ESL

Classroom

Fundraising for Your Cause

Tutor Training 101

Volunteer Recruitment

Learner Motivations

Advocating for Your Cause

Teaching Pronunciation:

Challenges & Strategies

Theme-Based ESL Lessons

Creative Writing for Low Literacy Learners

Why online?

• Online events are more cost-

effective than face-to-face

• Participants can stay in their home

communities to participate

• Online material can be reviewed

and easily repeated

• People have the chance to

network with colleagues from

around the country

• Online learning gives participants

the opportunity to practice 21st

century learning skills

From Guide to Effective Technologies and Tools for Providing Online Staff Development

and Training, Community Literacy of Ontario

“Brainstorming strategies with other participants

during interactive parts of presentations was one

of the best parts of the conference!” - Participant

STUDENT GROUPS CLAP

The Carolina Language Partnership is a tutoring organization that offers

free one-on-one English lessons to Hispanic and Burmese employees of the

Dining Halls, Student Union, and Student Stores at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Student tutors are matched with a worker and pairs meet for 1-2 hours a

week for tutoring sessions.

MANO MANO is a Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages organization that meets

twice a week at Carrboro Elementary School. They match UNC

student volunteers with adult non-native English speakers in the

community who desire to learn English. They also provide free

childcare services for participants and offer many resources,

trainings, and support to their UNC volunteers.

At the end of every semester, MANO hosts a potluck for all the

tutors and tutees. The adults bring dishes that reflect their

country of origin to share while UNC students typically bring baked goods. It is an event

that everyone looks forward to throughout the year!

MANO is always growing and expanding, and in spring

of 2013 they have chosen to create a new name for

MANO that better reflects their values and changing

demographics. They want their new name to be

inclusive of people from all language backgrounds and

to demonstrate their commitment to community,

relationships, understanding, and of course, literacy.

Number of tutors: 70

Number of tutees: 65

Number of service hours: 1120

Number of training hours: 3

Special Events: Qdoba Benefit Night

and Dance for HOPE

What our learners have to say:

"That was a really great exercise. Can we do this again?"

"Can you tutor me more than one time a week?"

"I am so excited to get started!"

Number of tutors:

39 (Spring) and 78 (Fall)

Number of tutees:


Number of service hours:


Number of Training hours: 4

SCALE STAFF

Executive Director: Megan McCurley

AmeriCorps Program Director: Nicole Glenos

AmeriCorps Program Assistant: Brittany Reyes

Literacy Programs Director: Allison Reavis

Graduate Assistants

Coach Mentors: Giselle Elias, Casey Horvitz, Melissa Rolfsen, and Melanie McCabe

Membership Coordinator: Alison Cary-Colman

Student Group Liaison: Marybeth Grewe

Webmaster: Amanda Joiner

Find us on

Facebook.com/SCALE.UNC @readwriteact http://readwriteact.org

SCALE 2012-13 Annual Report

Documents

Transcript of SCALE 2012-13 Annual Report