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Round Rock ISD refocuses Reading in the Rock partnership to target Title I kindergarten students
Summary
District staff and Education Connection described a revised volunteer model that pairs one trained volunteer with two kindergarten students for 30 minutes using scripted literacy kits; parent liaisons will coordinate on campuses and a KPI tracker will log volunteer interactions for fidelity.
Round Rock ISD on Monday outlined a restructured volunteer literacy program, shifting the longstanding Reading in the Rock model to a more targeted, data-driven approach focused on Title I kindergarten students.
Dr. Jill Gumbs, director of federal programs, said the program will now prioritize the district’s Title I kindergarten classes and use scripted 'literacy activity kits' aligned to foundational reading skills. Education Connection, the volunteer partner, will recruit and train bilingual volunteers to work with two students for a 30-minute session, rotating through six kits designed to build phonemic awareness, letter names, letter-sound correspondence and early decoding.
Key features: parent liaisons will serve as the campus-level program coordinators (providing professional oversight and accountability); the district is implementing an internal KPI tracker to log each volunteer–student interaction; volunteers must complete district background checks and annual training (including FERPA). Education Connection reported 109 approved volunteers toward a target of roughly 150 needed to serve ~300 students identified as below grade level in Title I schools.
'This is going to allow us to accurately measure progress and program fidelity,' Dr. Gumbs said, describing the tracker and structured training.
Education Connection’s executive director, Amy Wilkie, described the organization as largely volunteer-run and said the redesigned model is 'turnkey' for campuses, with core teams, background checks run through the district and scripted kits developed by the Round Rock team.
Trustees asked for a board update once KPI and midyear progress-monitoring data are available; district staff agreed to provide a summary of how the roughly 300 targeted students are progressing under the new model.
Next steps: continue volunteer recruitment, finalize background checks and training for remaining volunteers, and provide progress-monitoring data to the board on the program’s impact.
