About
Our Mission
Team Read propels young students to become inspired, joyful readers and teens to become impactful leaders, ready to succeed in school and life, building stronger communities for all.
Our Vision
Our Values
Equity Statement
Team Read values diversity, equity, and inclusion through everything we do.
Team Read is committed to growing educational equity and implementing anti-racist practices, through our programs and as an organization. We do this in partnering with and impacting school systems, by increasing access and opportunity for youth who are furthest from educational justice and through the intentional selection of school partners and program participants. Our work is meant to equip, inspire, and educate our young people so they can change our world to become a just, equitable place for all. This means increasing justice and fairness within our own organization and within the larger system in which we play a part.
We seek to address educational inequities—particularly racial bias and discrimination—through quality out-of-school programming that helps to close learning gaps. In this way, we ensure kids furthest from educational justice get the attention and instruction they need to read joyfully and well, and that their teen coaches acquire the skills they need to lead and succeed in life and work.
We work with schools and communities and students who disproportionately come from:
- Underrepresented groups, including African American/Black, Hispanic or Latina, Bi/ Multiracial, Native American/Alaskan, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander;
- Low-income backgrounds, specifically free and/or reduced lunch eligible;
- Households where English is not the home language.
Team Read acknowledges and values the intersections of race/ethnicity, gender identity and expression, class, sexual orientation, ability, age, national origin, and religious/spiritual identities in our students, our staff, and our organizational leadership.
Our Work
Team Read’s dual-impact model helps young students to become confident, joyful readers equipped for academic success, and teens to develop work and life skills that support their transition to college and future employment. Teachers refer second through third grade students who are reading at least one year below grade level proficiency to participate in the program. Team Read recruits, hires, and trains teen reading coaches from nearby middle and high schools, pairing them with these young students for one-on-one tutoring after school, two times per week.
Team Read 4 additionally serves fourth grade readers at the critical moment when they need to switch from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” Many readers make this transition easily in third grade, but some readers need more support. Team Read 4 students are supported by their teen coaches who help them develop the stamina to read longer chapter books with fewer pictures.
Team Read’s curriculum and materials are developed by reading teachers who incorporate the best literacy strategies and proven classroom tutoring techniques into our program. Informed by research and years of experience, the curriculum is designed to develop vocabulary, reading fluency and comprehension.
The primary instructional tool used by our reading coaches is the Power Reader Journal (PRJ). The PRJ is structured so that lessons include sight word work, phonics, reading comprehension and fluency. Lessons in the PRJ are aligned with the Common Core State Standards. Team Read also provides a collection of fun, interesting, culturally-relevant books at each tutoring site. Half are fiction, and half are non-fiction or informational.
A separate set of curriculum materials are designed specifically for Team Read 4. Fourth grade students practice more advanced comprehension strategies using more complex texts.
Program Sites
