Book Buddies Program Helps Alexandria Student Shine In Reading

ALEXANDRIA, VA — When Vanesa Hernandez attended her daughter Roxana's parent-teacher conference, she was told her daughter was behind in her reading level and needed additional help. Hernandez looked for tutors, but they were especially expensive in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic as education went virtual. As a mother of six, she also couldn't dedicate the time to teach her daughter, a Jefferson-Houston PreK-8 IB School student.

Then Hernandez learned about the Alexandria Tutoring Consortium's Book Buddies, a one-on-one tutoring program with former teachers serving as volunteer tutors to help first grade students struggling with reading. The program is free, targeted toward students in Alexandria City Public Schools who teachers identified as needing support with reading. The program's goal is to help ACPS students read at or above their grade level by the end of kindergarten and first grade.

According to the Alexandria Tutoring Consortium, a majority of participants are racial or ethnic minority students, and nearly half are English Language Learners. In the last school year, the tutoring program was helping students at Charles Barrett Elementary, Cora Kelly School, Ferdinand T. Day Elementary, James K. Polk Elementary, Jefferson-Houston PreK-8 IB School, John Adams Elementary, Mount Vernon Community School, Naomi Brooks Elementary, Patrick Henry K-8 School, Samuel Tucker Elementary and William Ramsay Elementary.

The tutor started working with Roxanna through virtual one-on-one sessions. Even within a month, Hernandez started noticing progress with her daughter's reading, and her teacher commented on her progress as well.

Now after graduating from the program in 2021, 8-year-old Roxana is achieving beyond grade level in reading and doing well in all classes. Hernandez told Patch Roxana is not only able to read better, but she is able to better understand what she's reading. She even received a certificate of reading in school.

"Now she's teaching my 9-year-old daughter how to read...she's teaching my 6-year-old son," said Hernandez.

She hopes her son who is entering kindergarten will be able to participate when he's eligible. On top of that, she'd like to see the program to be expanded to older grades, as her 9-year-old daughter struggles with reading but isn't eligible for the program.

The Book Buddies program did just receive a boost from a $10,000 donation by Dominion Energy to Alexandria Tutoring Consortium.

"We at Dominion Energy are proud to support Alexandria Tutoring Consortium and [its] Book Buddies program," Dominion Energy spokesperson Peggy Fox wrote in an email to Patch. "We believe these wonderful tutors are not only changing lives but helping to close the equity gap by lifting future generations out of poverty. We are happy to support Book Buddies and would like to encourage others to donate to this Alexandria non-profit that is truly making a difference in children’s lives."

Lisa Jacobs, executive director of the Alexandria Tutoring Consortium, explained in an interview with Fox how the one-on-one sessions give students the confidence they need.

"Six year olds know they're a bit behind. They know when they don't know something and their friends do know it, and they hesitate in class. They're shy, and they don't want to feel embarrassed," said Jacobs. "The one-on-one Book Buddies tutoring gives them a chance to try things and to take risks."

Book Buddies uses a curriculum that the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education developed. Tutors help build confidence through little tips, such as asking students to try part of the lesson again or replicating something they did in a past lesson.

Hernandez also appreciated how the tutor would text the mother ahead of sessions, ensuring Roxana had the materials she needed.

"If we had difficulties with internet or anything, she would adjust her time to earlier or later," Hernandez added.

Jacobs believes literacy can lift people out of poverty and that Book Buddies is helping address an equity gap.

"All sorts of kids may have trouble learning to read, but children who have economic disadvantages have more need," said Jacobs. "They have maybe less access to preschool, fewer books at home, parents who might not be able to read to them, so those are the kinds of kids who end up coming in and maybe being further behind. Having that one-on-one reading instruction especially if your family doesn't speak English as a first language, to have somebody who is a native English sitting and working with just you, it really changes lives."

Hernandez wants Book Buddies to make a difference for more families, especially Spanish-speaking families like hers. The difference is noticeable for Roxana, who once struggled with reading and now asks for a book rather than a phone to stay entertained in the car.