STAIR looking for new tutors for 2019-20 school year

If a student doesn’t read on grade-level, especially by third grade, it can have a negative snowball effect on how the student performs in all their other subjects. 

STAIR is a childhood literacy organization with the mission to improve skills of second graders who are reading below grade level in Birmingham City Schools. This August, the Avondale nonprofit is encouraging new weekly volunteers.

“Reading on grade level by the third grade is the most important predictor of high school graduation and career success, and three out of four Birmingham city students need help learning to read because they don’t meet those third grade reading benchmarks. It’s a huge need,” said Liz Hixson, STAIR director of community engagement. 

Two afternoons a week, STAIR tutors work with students on comprehension and other reading-related skills throughout the course of the school year.

“It really goes a long way in building that rapport and relationship and mentorship. There’s trust that develops,” she said. “That’s a beautiful part of the program, that it’s one and one and relationships are built.”

Last year, Hixson said, they served 200 students in Birmingham at 14 different locations, 13 of which were part of Birmingham City Schools, and they had about 500 different volunteers help out. 

“Volunteers really are the heart and soul of our organization. We really couldn’t do what we do without our STAIR tutors,” she said.

Tutors range in age from high school students to working professionals to retirees, and everything in between, she said. Volunteers don’t have to have an education background, but they do have to pass a background test for the safety of their students. 

At the beginning of the year and the end of the year, STAIR tests their second-grade students to measure progress and improvement as they go through the STAIR curriculum. On average, Hixson said, they are able to double their reading scores. They have been serving Birmingham students since 2000. 

A step-by-step curriculum is provided for all tutors to work through with students at their own pace, in addition to a required training session in August or September. After that, volunteers are placed on a site, and they shadow seasoned volunteers before they start tutoring themselves.

“It’s an important time during a child’s education, so we surround that student to equip them with the skills they need to be successful in school and in life, because if they don’t know how to read as they go into third, fourth, fifth grade, they’re not going to be successful in their history or language arts or other classes,” Hixson said.

For more information on the nonprofit and volunteering, go to stairbirmingham.org.