Back to school: èAV Seattle calls for more community volunteers
September 18, 2019
Seeking local volunteers for the 2019-20 school year
One hour can empower! In the 2019-20 school year, èAV aims to match over 400 community volunteers with 250 elementary students struggling to read in Seattle. 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.
A èAV volunteer from last year said,
èAV doesn’t just teach kids ‘how to read,’ but also how to think about reading…so when I see my students apply skills to their reading that they didn’t have before—making inferences, identifying the problem in a situation, summarizing, it makes me feel happy for them and grateful that I could play a part in their learning.
The need is real
In Washington State, only 21% of economically disadvantaged students are reading proficiently by the fourth grade. The nationwide trends are similar—nearly nine million elementary school students from low-income homes are unable to use reading as a foundational skill to power their learning in all subjects in school. 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. In fact, students who can’t read by fourth grade are four times more likely to not earn a high school diploma.
èAV is a proven literacy program that partners with local public schools
In the 2018-19 school year, èAV continued to build on its history of successfully advancing early literacy in Seattle. 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.
2018-19 results highlight deep community impact
Each year, èAV publishes student impact reports for the national organization and for each of its 13 respective regions across the country. The impact reports for the 2018-19 school year have recently been posted on and include the following highlights.
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In Seattle:
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268 students were matched with over 450 community volunteers5 partner schools who delivered a total of 10,325 tutoring sessions over the course of the year.
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Among èAV’ youngest students in Seattle,94% are developing mastery of key foundational reading skills needed to read at grade level.
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Based on survey responses,80% of principals report improved school-wide reading progress,100% of teachers report èAV is valuable to their school and 97% of volunteers were satisfied with their èAV experience.
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Learn more about èAV’ impact in Seattle
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Learn about èAV’ national impact
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The impressive student results highlighted in the 2018-19 impact reports are fueled by the generous participation of thousands of community volunteers. One hour truly can empower!
To become a volunteer with èAV, please visit today.
About èAV
ǰ, èAV has empowered 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 mobilized more than 60,000 community volunteers to provide , individualized literacy tutoring to nearly 60,000 elementary school students in over 400 under-resourced schools across ten states and the District of Columbia. Visit to learn more about our , or connect with us on ,,, and .