America Reads
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Center for Civic Leadership’s America Reads Chapter
 

Program Description: 

The America Reads Challenge Program is a federally funded national literacy initiative. The Rice chapter of America Reads is overseen by the Center for Civic Leadership as a LEARN level Program and focuses more broadly on educational equity.

The program provides Rice students who are Federal Work-Study eligible an opportunity to earn $15/hour tutoring and mentoring school students in the Houston community. 

Participating students will attend orientation and trainings aimed at enhancing their tutoring skills through an ethical community engagement framework. 
 

America Reads is open to all majors and is a great opportunity for students that: 

• Enjoy working with youth
• Want to be more engaged with the Houston community
• Would like field experience in education by mentoring youth or tutoring students in a variety of subjects (from elementary school reading to AP-level physics)

Program Goals:

• Assist our community partner organizations in providing tutoring to youth that supports education equity. 
• Work with youth to improve their literacy skills and allow them to catch up and get ahead.
• Provide Federal Work Study students with a meaningful work opportunity and promote student engagement with the Houston community.

Student Roles:

• Attend America Reads orientation at the beginning of each semester 
• Tutor a minimum of 4 hours a week and submit timesheets biweekly
• Participate in monthly hour-long America Reads trainings and reflections
• Maintain communication with America Reads student coordinators, the America Reads mentor cohort, and the CCL
• Proactively maintain relationships with community partner staff and the students you tutor
• Maintain professional demeanor and be on time to all shifts
• Notify America Reads student coordinator and site supervisor if you need to make a permanent change to your schedule
   

Partnering Sites

8 Million Stories
- Location: This is a virtual tutoring site, so you and your students will meet over Zoom. 
- Student Population: At-promise youth, ages 16-24, who were unable to complete high school. 8 Million Stories has a focus on reducing recidivism among young Houstonians, so students may have been previously involved with the criminal justice system. 
- Working Hours:  9 am - 8 pm, M-F
- Subject(s): GED tutoring. The GED is a standardized high school diploma equivalency exam that has sections covering Math (up to basic algebra & geometry), Science (basic earth science, understanding of experiments, etc.), Social Studies, and Language Arts. 

Breakthrough Houston
- Location: This is a virtual tutoring site, so you and your student(s) will meet over Zoom (although meeting in person is an option if you and your students can come to an agreement). 
- Student Population: High school students, many low-income or on the path to be first-gen college students (Breakthrough has a focus on college preparation).
- Working Hours: Up to you and your students’ schedules (after school on weekdays and any time over the weekend). Typically you and a student will meet twice a week for an hour at a time.
- Subject(s): Up to your experience and your students’ needs. You will be matched with students based on your availability and comfort level with different subjects, so topics/classes could include English, World History, AP Chem, Algebra, etc.

Nehemiah Center (religiously affiliated)
- Location: 5015 Fannin Street. According to google maps, this is a 22-minute walk from
the Academic Quad or 16 minutes by taking the metro rail.
- Student Population: Elementary school/younger middle schoolers.
- Working Hours: After School Hours (3/4pm-6pm) from Monday-Friday, except school
holidays.
- Subject(s): You will help students with their homework as needed in a classroom setting.
You also have the opportunity to participate in recreational activities with them like
sports and art/crafts.

Poe Elementary
- Location: 5100 Hazard Street. According to google maps, this is a 22-minute walk from
the Academic Quad.
- Student Population: You will be working with 1 st , 2 nd or 3 rd graders. You will be assigned a
set group of students, who you will work with on a largely one-on-one basis.
- Working Hours: During school hours, which could be anywhere from 8am-3pm. For the
tutors matched to this organization, we will work more closely with you to find times
that work for both tutors and teachers.
- Subject(s): You will help students (who are likely behind in literacy skills) improve their
reading skills. This will happen through reading with them or playing literacy games
(which will be provided for you).

reVision Houston
- Location: 6525 Hillcroft St. This is a 20-minute drive from Rice University.
- Student Population: You will be working with a large range of student ages (elementary-
college freshman) but most students will likely be middle schoolers/high schoolers. This
organization works with at-risk students who have been affected by the criminal justice
system.
- Working Hours:  After school hours (3:30 pm-6 pm), Tuesday-Thursday
- Subject(s): You will help students with homework as needed and set up and run educational games. You also have the opportunity to participate in recreational activities like sports and community events, and your work will fall more into academic mentoring rather than traditional academic tutoring.

We will compensate/reimburse tutors for transportation time.
 

Contact America Reads Student Coordinators with any questions: Kaylee Caudle (krc10@rice.edu), Ixchel Marino Lee (im36@rice.edu), or Kevin Ni (kn55@rice.edu).