Bethel grad makes a difference by helping students read
At the Twin Cities Branch of Reading Partners, Brooke Rivers successfully began and grew a reading program for underprivileged students, and is continuing to make a difference virtually.
By Madeline Aafedt and Claire Reese | Reporters
Brooke Rivers grabbed the book for her lesson with a young struggling reader. Their agenda for the day was to read about the first American woman in space. The book spoke about imagining and dreaming, and Rivers hoped it would intrigue her third grade student whose reluctance to read had shown in her sessions thus far. Instead of engaging with Rivers, the young student insisted she had to go to the bathroom or that her wifi didn’t work when their time to read came. However, after reading this book via a Zoom call, Rivers asked the young girl what she wanted to be when she grew up. The student hoped to be a doctor or a veterinarian. Rivers told her that she could be anything or do anything she wanted, but that had to include being able to read.
“If you think about a fourth grader who is reading on a second grade level, they’ve already written a narrative about themselves, and it’s not a positive one. Reading Partners has the ability to bring confidence back.” — Brooke Rivers, Executive Director of Twin Cities Reading Partners
A breakthrough. In that moment, Rivers’ student realized her tutor was on her team. Rivers remembers watching the student’s reaction.
“If you think about a fourth-grader who is reading on a second grade level, they’ve already written a narrative about themselves, and it’s not a positive one,” Rivers said. “Reading Partners has the ability to bring confidence back.”
It was never Rivers’ intention to punish the student or ridicule her for her low reading level. Instead, Rivers was there because she wanted her student to succeed.
Founded in 1999 in Menlo Park, CA, Reading Partners has since expanded across the nation in 10 different states. Its headquarters are located in Oakland, CA, and their website’s “About Us” page highlights their goal to “partner with under-resourced schools and engage volunteer reading partners to work one-on-one with students who struggle with reading… following a structured, evidence-based curriculum developed with an expert team of curriculum advisors.” With a big company, integrity or quality can be lost in transition of location and curriculum. However, even though the branches of Reading Partners might be across the country, Rivers notes how similar they are.
“I’ve been in the reading center here in Minnesota, I’ve been in a reading center in San Francisco, and it looks, sounds and feels the same.”
Rivers, a Bethel University alumni who graduated in 2004 with a degree in anthropology, began the Twin Cities branch of Reading Partners in 2015 and remains the Executive Director in 2020. She became involved with the organization after working with older students in AmeriCorps. Rivers realized that increasing educational opportunities begins with strengthening literacy in young students. Literacy levels the playing field for college opportunities later in life. She wants every student to have the same opportunities, and Reading Partners has proven success rates from third party research. According to Reading Partners’ evidence base, “Augenblick, Palaich and Associates found that Reading Partners’ students had statistically significantly higher spring assessment scores than comparison students” and “MDRC found that Reading Partners had a positive and statistically significant impact on student reading comprehension, reading fluency, and sight-word reading.”
However, Reading Partners’ face-to-face model of tutoring with students had to change due to COVID-19. The nonprofit was concerned about serving students when the pandemic hit full effect. According to Rivers, many staff members had to be furloughed, as well as some of their force reduced early on in COVID-19. Due to some generous funds granted by a donor early in the summer however, monetary issues were no longer a problem for the Twin Cities branch. But Rivers would say her biggest concern is for students and volunteers. Burnout due to screen time, as well as missing friends and having parents stressed about working at home, is a struggle for those learning virtually.
“Students are struggling, there is fatigue with doing school online,” Rivers said.
Even though Reading Partners has faced some struggles, there is also hope.
“We’re going to learn a lot this year,” Rivers said. “I keep calling this year the spaghetti year, where you throw the spaghetti on the wall and see what sticks.”
Mara Abrahamson, on the AmeriCorps team at the Twin Cities Branch of Reading Partners, spoke about how this year has been different for her and the students she serves. She highlighted how she sometimes feels disconnected from her students due to COVID-19, and that her students miss seeing her in person too. Abrahamson stressed how Partners cannot lose sight of relationships they have with students in this time of online learning.
| Submitted photo
“It’s still important to build relationships, offer a (virtual) space they feel welcome in, and support their reading skills,” Abrahamson said.
Along with Abrahamson, Rivers wishes to support students reading skills as well as build relationships. Rivers has many goals for Minnesota’s Reading Partners branch. Short term, she wants the branch to tutor at least 300 students by the end of the year and have no less than 80 percent of students meet the primary literacy goal. As for long term, Rivers has been inspired by the changes the pandemic has forced the organization to make.
“We are not bound by a school building or proximity,” Rivers said. “We look forward to growing Reading Partners Connects.”
Rivers hopes to expand Reading Partners Connects, the online version of the face-to-face model of tutoring, across the state of Minnesota. They will be able to reach different school districts they wouldn’t have been able to before COVID-19 opened new doors virtually. They will be able to reach more students, and help strengthen literacy for future success.
