èAV Tulsa announces new executive director and strong 2016-17 student impact results
September 6, 2017
For Immediate Release
DzԳٲ:
Jessica Risenhoover
Director of External Relations, èAV Tulsa
918-521-2268jessica.risenhoover@
READING PARTNERS TULSA ANNOUNCES STRONG 2016-17 STUDENT IMPACT RESULTS AND A NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
University of Tulsa graduate to lead the early literacy nonprofit as it seeks more community tutors in 2017-18
(Tulsa, OK) September 6, 2017 — Justin Harlan, a two-time graduate of the University of Tulsa (BA and MBA) has taken over as the Executive Director of èAV Tulsa for Elizabeth Brands Vereecke who is moving with her family to Dallas after two years of highly productive leadership at èAV. Harlan has dedicated his career to educational equity and entrepreneurialism having worked in a number of operations and development roles at Teach For America and most recently at the Character Formation Project as the National Director of Operations Support. He is also a founding board member and the current board chair at Collegiate Hall Charter School in Tulsa.
Harlan is joining èAV as a new program year is about to get underway. During the 2016-17 school year, èAV continued to build on its history of successfully advancing early literacy in the Tulsa region. A national nonprofit organization, èAV collaborates with community volunteers and local public schools to provide students in under-resourced schools with the proven, individualized reading intervention they need to read at grade level by fourth grade. èAV collaborates with teachers and principals at local public elementary schools to identify students reading behind grade level and provide them with personalized literacy instruction in a dedicated “reading center” space at their school.
2016-17 school year results were strong
Each year, èAV issues student impact reports for the national organization and for each of its 14 respective regions across the country. The impact reports for the 2016-17 school year have recently been posted on and include the following highlights.
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In the Tulsa region:
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More than 1,300 students were matched at 24 reading centers with 1,468 community volunteers who delivered a total of 47,602 tutoring sessions over the course of the year.
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Among èAV’ youngest students in Tulsa, 89% mastered key foundational reading skills needed to read at grade level.
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Based on survey responses, more than four out of five principals report improved school-wide reading progress, 100% of teachers report èAV is valuable to their school and 95% of volunteers were satisfied with their èAV experience.
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Learn more about èAV’ impact in Tulsa .
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Learn about èAV’ national impact .
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“I am proud to be joining the èAV Tulsa team to lead the important work that èAV has achieved growing from mobilizing 649 volunteers serving 449 students to mobilizing over 1,600 volunteers serving 1,502 students in five short years,” said Harlan. “I am inspired by the path that has been set before me by our board and staff, and I see great potential in the work we will do for Tulsa students.”
Calling all volunteers for the 2017-18 school year
Nationwide, only one in five low-income students is reading proficiently by the fourth grade. Tragically, this translates into nearly nine million low-income elementary school students who are unable to use reading as a foundational skill to power their learning in all other subjects in school. Reading is, quite simply, a necessary platform for all future learning. Without developing the reading skills needed to read on grade level, kids don’t have an equitable chance to succeed in school or in life. Students who can’t read by fourth grade are four times more likely to drop out of school or not earn a high school diploma.
In the 2017-18 school year, èAV aims to match over 1,600 community volunteers with more than 1,500 struggling readers in Tulsa. By tutoring a student one-on-one for as little as an hour a week, volunteers can make an impact that can quite literally alter the course of a child’s educational experience and life.
The impressive student results highlighted in the 2016-17 impact reports are made attainable by the generous participation of thousands of community volunteers. To become a volunteer with èAV, please visit ٴǻ岹.
A èAV volunteer tutor works with a student (Photo Credit: èAV)
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About èAV
èAV empowers students to succeed in reading and in life by engaging community volunteers to provide one-on-one tutoring. Since its founding, the national nonprofit organization has provided , individualized literacy tutoring to nearly 45,000 elementary school students in under-resourced schools across ten states and the District of Columbia. Visit , or connect with us on ,, and , to learn more.