Celebrating its 20th Year of Nationwide Impact, èAV Unveils Outstanding Student Results in Colorado in 2017-2018
September 20, 2018
For Immediate Release
DzԳٲ:
Margie Thirlby
Senior Executive Director, èAV Colorado
206.992.5512 | margie.thirlby@
CELEBRATING ITS 20TH YEAR OF NATIONWIDE IMPACT, READING PARTNERS UNVEILS OUTSTANDING STUDENT RESULTS IN COLORADO IN 2017-18
(Denver, CO) September 20, 2018
The 2018-19 academic school year marks èAV’ 20th anniversary of bringing community volunteers into schools to provide essential one-on-one literacy tutoring that empowers students to succeed in school and beyond. Over the past two decades, the organization has grown from supporting a handful of students at one school into a national literacy nonprofit supporting more than 11,000 students at 200 schools across the US every year.
“Reading is critical and equitable education needs to be a norm, not a luxury,” said Karine Apollon, CEO, èAV. “This is a solvable problem and one that èAV has been successfully tackling for 20 years. Last school year alone, our organization mobilized over 12,000 volunteers in communities across the country to tackle one of the nation’s greatest issues, one student at a time, and our personalized literacy approach continues to show strong results”
Student results in 2017-18 continued a strong trend for èAV Colorado
Every fall, 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 2017-18 school year have recently been posted on and include the following highlights.
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In the Colorado region:
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629 students were matched with 918 community volunteers at 10 partner schools who delivered over 25,000 tutoring sessions (an average of 40 tutoring sessions per student over the course of the year).
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Among èAV’ youngest students in Colorado, 94% are developing mastery of key foundational reading skills needed to read at grade level.
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Based on survey responses, 100% of principals report improved school-wide reading progress, 100% of teachers report èAV is valuable to their school and 96% of volunteers were satisfied with their èAV experience.
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Learn more about èAV’ impact in Colorado .
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Learn about èAV’ 2017-18 national impact .
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“èAV Colorado is proud to have completed our most outstanding program year since our inception, with excellent student outputs and outcomes,” said Margie Thirlby, senior executive director of èAV Colorado. “Due to the success of last school year, we will be able to serve four new school partners and expand our services to a new school district: Westminster Public Schools. We look forward to getting more businesses and individuals engaged in our work.”
A 20-year track record of student and community impact
Only 20 percent of economically disadvantaged students in the US are reading proficiently by fourth grade. For students entering fourth grade, it is essential to have made the switch from ‘learning to read’ to ‘reading to learn.’ Most subjects, including history, science and math, all require literacy in order to progress. Over the past two decades, èAV has engaged nearly 55,000 community tutors and over 1,300 AmeriCorps members to provide one-on-one literacy tutoring to more than 50,000 students attending over 350 public schools in nearly 75 school districts across the country. All told, èAV volunteers have delivered more than 1.5 million tutoring sessions, helping students grow their reading skills and confidence at a critical stage in their education.
More volunteers needed in Colorado in the 2018-19 school year
There are nearly nine million low-income K-5 students in the US, including thousands in Colorado, who are not yet reading at grade level. Without developing the literacy skills needed to read at grade level, these children do not have an equitable chance to succeed in school or in life. Each new volunteer that èAV engages helps more students develop the foundational reading skills needed to power their learning in all other subjects in school.
In the 2018-19 school year, èAV Colorado will be serving in Denver Public Schools and Westminster Public Schools. èAV aims to match over 1,000 community volunteers with at least 700 struggling readers in Colorado. By tutoring a student one-on-one for as little as one hour a week, volunteers can make an impact that can quite literally alter the course of a child’s educational experience and life.
The positive student results highlighted in the 2017-18 impact reports are made possible through the generous participation of thousands of community volunteers. To become a volunteer with èAV, please visit today.
Photos of students and volunteer tutors in a èAV reading center (Photo Credit: èAV)
About èAV
For 20 years, 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 nearly 55,000 community volunteers to provide , individualized literacy tutoring to more than 50,000 elementary school students in under-resourced schools across ten states and the District of Columbia. Visit to learn more about our , or connect with us on , ,, and .