One World Education is proud to be part of a community of school initiatives and nonprofits working to improve student writing in DC schools. In this series, we highlight their great work.
When Ashley Johnson taught ninth grade English and Language Arts as a DC Public School teacher, she was shocked by how many students were only at a third grade reading level. She and her colleagues did the best they could to help students overcome that gap, but they were required to teach the learning standards of ninth grade so it was hard.
When she could work one-on-one with students, she saw that the gap could be closed. She initially feared that teaching a 15-year-old student how to sound out a three-letter word would make them feel like they were being treated like a child, but it didn’t. “They saw they were building skills that could make them independent,” she said. This was exactly what they craved, and they were highly motivated to improve their reading skills.
To address students’ need for basic reading skills, she founded The Literacy Lab in 2009 with her co-executive director Tom Dillon. Their three literacy programs focus on young students and involve one-on-one or small group learning. One program is afterschool tutoring, giving students extra help with the basics of reading. The second program is a weekly literacy group for young children at two homeless shelters in DC. The third program is the largest, the Metro DC Reading Corps, through which Literacy Lab hires, trains, and supports full-time reading tutors in the schools with the highest needs. The program starts with pre-K students and goes through third grade, providing students with 20 minutes of one-on-one help five days per week.
“It’s complex to learn how to read… it takes time. There’s no quick fix, but we’re here for the kids for the long haul,” Ashley tells me.
The Literacy Lab has seen countless examples of success, but a recent story a mother shared with Ashley stands out to her. “There was one little girl who came into our after school program as a first grader. She struggled with letter sounds. She worked with a tutor across 2 years,” Ashely said. “This past spring, one day when her mom came to pick her up she said her daughter surprised her by baking her a cake. She made it all by herself by reading the recipe.”
For Ashley, this story epitomizes the importance of the work of The Literacy Lab. “Being able to read not only helps students with their grades in school, but it helps them be independent. There are so many things that we as literate adults take for granted, like being able to read a recipe, and everyone deserves to be able to do those things.”
For DC-area people who want to get involved, The Literacy Lab will soon be recruiting their next core of reading tutors. It is an 11-month commitment but it is a great way to give back to the community, build skills as literacy professionals, and find an entryway into the education profession. Applications will be on their website soon.
The image was provided by The Literacy Lab and taken by a Washington Post reporter.