Last year, nearly 8,000 children across Washington state received tutoring through the Washington Reading Corps.

Thanks to the Reading Corps, most of those struggling readers caught up to their peers or improved their reading ability by an entire grade level. And most of them will do better on their Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) exams, too.

The good news is that it didn’t require an expensive new program to get these results. Rather, these improvements were brought about by volunteer tutors who were willing to make a difference for kids in their communities. It also took schools that were willing to welcome these tutors into their midst.

Currently, 84 schools across Washington host Reading Corps volunteers. By next fall, we want to expand that number to 95.

So, what is the Washington Reading Corps?

The Reading Corps was created in response to the state’s low reading scores. The program is co-managed by the state’s superintendent of public instruction, the Employment Security Department’s Washington Service Corps, the Governor’s Office and the Washington Commission for National and Community Service.

Washington Service Corps members recruit volunteers into the Reading Corps and train them to help struggling students improve their reading abilities using proven tutoring methods.

Our schools deliver a lot of excellent education, but they can’t do the job alone. Since 1998, more than 95,000 struggling readers have been served by the Washington Reading Corps. Since 1999, schools that participated in the Washington Reading Corps program saw their WASL reading scores rise by nearly 31 percent, compared with the statewide average of 22 percent. That’s the power of volunteerism.

The Reading Corps also helps to prepare children for long-term success. According to the National Institute for Literacy, poor reading skills are strongly related to unemployment, poverty and crime.

On average, welfare recipients aged 17 to 21 read at the sixth-grade level, well below what is needed to earn a living wage. In fact, 43 percent of those with the poorest reading skills live in poverty. Without intervention, their academic achievement and potential will remain limited.

Currently, we are recruiting schools and volunteers to participate in the tutoring program during the 2007-08 school year. (For information, contact Shannon Skye, the Reading Corps’ program manager, at 360-438-3245.)

You can support the Washington Reading Corps’ success by volunteering and by encouraging your local elementary school to become a Reading Corps partner. Working together, we can help our schools and children to excel.