Cogswell Club pledges $75,000 to expand Ignite Reading tutoring at Tilton Elementary

The Haverhill City Council heard Tuesday that the Cogswell Club will provide a $75,000 grant to Haverhill Promise to expand the Ignite Reading tutoring program at Tilton Elementary School.

Lisa Marzilli, speaking on behalf of the Cogswell Club, said the funds will create 30 additional 15‑minute daily, one‑on‑one virtual tutoring seats for first graders beginning January 2025. Marzilli said Haverhill Promise chose Ignite after a competitive selection process and cited district reading data showing 77% of Haverhill third graders were not meeting or only partially meeting English‑language arts expectations, a statistic members found unacceptable.

Jessica Todd, literacy coach at Tilton Elementary, described how Ignite pairs each student with the same remote tutor for daily 15‑minute sessions built around phonics screeners and a science‑of‑reading curriculum. Todd said the pilot, launched in late March of the prior school year, showed strong gains: students in the pilot averaged about 2.2 weeks of reading progress for each week in the program.

Councilors asked about the virtual model and student selection. Todd and Jessica Callan, speaking for partner organizations, explained students are selected during intervention blocks when they are not pulled for core instruction; Ignite tracks attendance and can flag when a student’s attendance drops below 80%. The program permits students to “graduate” out of the seat once they reach reading fluency benchmarks.

Marzilli urged community members to donate to Haverhill Promise and noted the Haverhill Public Library is serving as fiscal agent for contributions. The council expressed appreciation for the donation and the partners’ work to expand literacy interventions locally.

The council did not take a vote on funding or school policy; the presentation was informational and part of the meeting’s public presentations.