What is the K-12 Adult Volunteer Initiative?

The initiative is a statewide system to recruit, train, and place adults in Arizona classrooms as volunteer academic tutors, classroom or activity assistants, and mentors.

What is the history of the K-12 Adult Volunteer Initiative?

The initiative is one of superintendent Tom Horne's 2005 initiatives, as outlined in this January 2005 State of Education Speech.

How will the K-12 Adult Volunteer Initiative work?

The Arizona Department of Education's Learn and Serve program is in the process of establishing a state-wide partnership with organizations that will help link senior Arizonans with classroom across the state. The intent of the system is to make it easier for school districts to link with these partnerships and bring adult volunteers in to the classroom to address an identified need in the school. The need can be individual academic tutoring, mentoring, classroom assistance, or any other identified area where assistance is needed.

Who are the partnering organizations?

Current organizations partnering with this initiative are:

• AARP (American Association of Retired Persons)
• AARTA (All Arizona Retired Teachers Association)
• Arizona Community Foundation
• Big Brothers, Big Sisters
• Communities in Schools
• HOPE Volunteer Center
• Korean War Veterans
• Masons Paradise Valley Silver Trowel Lodge No. 29
• The Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons
• National Service SaYES (Seniors Assisting Youth Engaged in Service)
• OASIS (Older Adult Service and Information Systems)
• Reading Seeds
• RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Program)
• Senior Corp
• SGIG in ARizona
• Tuba City Volunteers
• Volunteer Center of Southern ARizona
• Youth Counts

What are the resources?

Partnering organizations will aid in recruiting and linking the adult volunteers with identified schools and classrooms. The Arizona Department of Education through the Learn and Serve America program will provide at least three training's and resource materials for the adult volunteer programs. The Learn and Serve program will also provide "seed money" to at least fifteen schools through a competitive grant process over the next year.

Have model programs been established?

Through the Learn and Serve America program the Arizona Department of Education currently sponsors several adult volunteer programs in the state. Model programs have been established that can be replicated and revised to meet the needs in classrooms. Examples of this model are:

Peoria Unified School District, Project THRILL (To Help Readers Is to Love Life): Links trained tutors with students who struggle with reading. The program is designed to provide intervention for students identified as below grade level through Stanford 9, District CRT's or classroom assessment. The focus of the program is to narrow the gap between student potential and performance with low achieving students in grades one through eight. Using engaging, high interest materials and one-on-one tutors from an adult living community (Westbrook Village), and other adult volunteers, Project THRILL promotes a love for literacy and improves reading levels and test scores as evidenced by the assessments reported on the program's Semi-Annual Progress Reports. The program began at Apache Elementary and has been replicated in at least two other Peoria Elementary Schools. The current Assistant Principal at Desert Valley, Vivian Hunt was the classroom teacher that began Project THRILL at Apache Elementary. She found the impact so significant on student achievement that she was committed to replicating it at Desert Valley when she became Assistant Principal.

Tucson Unified District, Rogers Elementary: The Partners Assisting in Literacy and Leadership (PALs) is an intergenerational program that seeks to recruit, train and support community members and parents as tutors and with preschool through 5th grade students. The PALs program emphasizes literacy and leadership through various activities. Adult volunteers work to the supplement the Literacy Assistance Project (LAP) which is designed to assist students whose reading and writing reflect struggle and frustration. Adult volunteers can be Read Aloud PALs who go into the classroom and read with students, Literacy PAL tutors who provide one on one literacy tutoring, or Special Project PALs/Mentors who come to school and share special skills and talents or experiences with students. Some of the community partners include Read and Seed, Old Pueblo Rotary Club, Southern Arizona Volunteer Center, Wilshire Heights Neighborhood Association, OASIS Intergenerational Tutoring Program, Canyon Ranch Faces of Change Initiative, and Lawyers for Literacy. The programs success under the direction of Gretchen Roward has captured the attention of other schools in TUSD. Mrs. Roward is frequently asked to train other elementary schools in the districts that would like to replicate the program.

Madison School District, Madison Heights Elementary School: The Mentoring Minds Program at Madison Heights Elementary seeks to bridge the gap between the number of volunteers available and the number needed to support teachers and students. In an effort to support all students at Madison Heights, the mentoring coordinator will work closely with community to generate consistent, well-trained volunteers to help with identified needs the school. Current community partners are: OASIS (Older Adults Service and Information System), BookPals, Jewish Federation, and RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Program). Volunteers are utilized in a number of different capacities, all of which are focused on improving literacy and academic achievement in the school. The volunteers provide experiences that directly support and incorporate the Arizona Academic standards and the district's literacy model, Learning Network. Volunteers receive two 12-hour training sessions with the OASIS training manual which gives them the tools and confidence they need to make a difference in a child's education.

Yuma Union High School District, Cibola High School: The Yuma Union High School District Mentoring Program seeks to provide students working toward English fluency and opportunity to receive one-on-one mentoring from professionals and retired professionals in the community. Through individualized attention, these students will develop positive relationships with mentors that will help combat poor attendance, poor academic performance, and negative social behaviors. The program provides students with additional help that works toward connecting them with school, increasing self-esteem, and goal setting. Students and their mentors meet once a week during school time. The mentor meets with the project director to determine what lesson plan will directly address the student's academic need and build trust between student and mentor. Cibola High School and YUHD hires a full-time project director, Cheryl Wagner, to direct the mentoring program. Mrs. Wagner has created a unique theme basted on environment in which the mentor and student work.