OHIO STATE JOINS COLUMBUS PUBLIC SCHOOLS READING-TUTORING PROGRAM

   COLUMBUS -- The Ohio State University will join Les Wexner and The Limited this fall in participating in ColumbusReads, a reading-tutoring program in the Columbus Public Schools.

   The program is an outgrowth of Ohio Gov. Bob Taft’s OhioReads initiative, which is attempting to recruit 20,000 volunteer reading tutors throughout the state to improve the skills of kindergarten through fourth-grade students, said David Williams II, vice president for student and urban/community affairs.

   “Our goal was to recruit 150 permanent tutors and 75 substitute tutors for the program by early October,” Williams said. “Tutors will be required to go through a training session and will begin working with kindergartners at East Linden and Hubbard elementary schools on Oct. 19.”

   The program is important because last year, 40 percent of fourth-graders in the state did not pass the reading section of the state proficiency test, Williams said. Beginning in the school year 2001-02, fourth-graders will be required, for the first time, to pass the reading proficiency test to advance to the fifth grade.

   ColumbusReads was started last year by Wexner, chairman and CEO of The Limited Inc., at the request of Columbus Public Schools Superintendent Rosa Smith. Wexner recruited 400 employees to tutor 225 kindergartners attending three elementary schools during the 1998-99 academic year.

   Williams and Tina Love, director of special projects for the Office of Student Affairs, are coordinating Ohio State’s participation in the ColumbusReads program.

   The 11-week fall tutoring program will continue through Dec. 21. A ColumbusReads permanent tutor commits one hour per week in the classroom during a regular work week, on company time. Each tutor provides two kindergarten students with a half-hour of tutoring and mentoring each week. Substitute tutors commit to work in the event that permanent tutors cannot attend their sessions.

   Ohio State’s permanent tutors will be asked to participate at least eight of the 11 weeks during the fall, Williams said. The tutoring sessions will involve a two-hour commitment, Williams said, which includes one hour in the classroom and one hour for travel time.

   Although Ohio State has made only a one-semester commitment to ColumbusReads, Williams believes the university’s involvement may be long-term.

   “The Limited asked us to put together a program that goes from October to December, but in all reality we’re looking at a yearlong commitment,” he said. “We’re asking the volunteers to commit to one semester, in the hopes that they’ll stay with the program for the entire year. If not, we’ll generate more volunteers.”

   Love and Williams agree that Ohio State’s involvement in ColumbusReads is a win-win proposition.

   “With the school system in need of help, we think we have a great opportunity in the Columbus Public Schools to put to use many of the things that are taught in the classroom,” Love said. “We live in this community, and we should do all we can to make a difference.”

   “If anybody should be doing this, it should be us,” said Williams, a former public schoolteacher who plans to participate in the tutoring program. “We shouldn’t be standing on the sideline in this kind of effort. We should be at the forefront. That’s our business -- education. I was explaining the program to someone and they asked when this would end. My answer was, ‘When every kid can read.’”

Contact: David Williams II or Tina Love, (614) 292-9334