THE STUDENT COALITION FOR ACTION IN LITERACY EDUCATION Annual Report 2012-2013 THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL
Mar 12, 2016
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
Page 1
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
Page 2
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
Page 3
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
Page 4
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/
Page 5
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
Page 6
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
Page 7
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
Page 8
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
Page 9
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.
Page 10
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…
Page 11
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
Page 12
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.
Page 13
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
Page 14
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
Page 15
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
Page 16
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:
39 (Spring) and 68 (Fall)
Number of service hours:
1404 (Spring) and 2106 (Fall)
Number of Training hours: 4
Page 17
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