Ready Kids tells board Reading Pals boosts kindergarten readiness at Brentwood Elementary

Christy Craig, executive director of Ready Kids, told the Escambia Children's Trust board that the nonprofit's Reading Pals pre-K mentoring program has expanded to 16 classrooms across eight schools and has served more than 2,200 children since 2011.

Craig said the program's recent results show substantive gains: of more than 250 children served last year, 98% made assessment gains between the start and middle of the school year, and children assigned a reading pal scored on average 54% higher on kindergarten-readiness assessments than students in the same classrooms who did not have a reading pal.

"Reading Pals is designed to boost early literacy and social emotional skills... Each of those children gaining important skills, confidence, and increased readiness for kindergarten," Craig said. She described Brentwood Elementary as a new site this year with 25 pre-K students matched to mentors and more than 450 mentoring sessions so far.

Craig highlighted an individual example of a student who initially resisted structured learning but, with a one-on-one mentor, began sitting for lessons, writing his name and engaging with reading. She said the program pairs volunteers with students to build trust and early skills, which classroom teachers report improves readiness and classroom behavior.

Board members thanked Ready Kids and staff for the presentation; the board noted the program when discussing program quality and monitoring that followed later in the agenda.

The board meeting record shows staff and the board will continue to monitor program outcomes through the trust's new quality-assurance framework.