131

community members

Milwaukee Public Schools parents, grandparents, teachers, principals and social workers brought the need to the forefront.

$10M

in federal funds

We pushed MPS to allocate $10 million of Federal COVID-recovery funds specifically for one-on-one literacy tutoring during the day for K-3rd graders.

250

volunteer tutors

Forward Scholars continues to thrive. In the 2024-2025 school year, Forward Scholars was in nine schools with 250 volunteer tutors.

2yrs

of literacy growth

Students in Forward Scholars average over 2 years of literacy growth after just 8 months in the program.

Why Our Program Works

The Forward Scholars program is based on Book Buddies, a research-based tutoring framework that has been a national standard in reading intervention for thousands of students for almost 40 years. Book Buddies originates from Columbia University Teachers’ College and the University of Virginia and utilizes volunteer tutors from the community. FS determines its training, materials, assessments, curriculum, lesson format, and tutor instructional language largely from this instructional framework.

• In urban environments comparable to MPS, such as New York City and Chicago, using control group research methodology, the Book Buddies model has demonstrated significant results.

• Site coordinators, certified teachers with bachelor/master degrees and reading instruction backgrounds, create individualized lesson plans for each student, train the tutors, assemble materials for the tutor-student sessions, and coach tutors/students during each session.

• Tutors are matched one-to-one with students during 45-minute sessions, with the site coordinator present to provide support. Tutoring takes place in a dedicated room designated by the school. Tutors provide instruction to the same student twice per week with make-up sessions available.

• The overall program is led by our Executive Director, Dr. Carrie Streiff-Stuessy, with a doctorate in language and literacy and 25 years of experience in early elementary teaching and instructional coaching/leadership.

How Forward Scholars Works

The students we work with are K5 - 3rd graders who are not yet meeting grade-level expectations with reading.

Each student is paired with a volunteer who has undergone training. Volunteers are supported with individualized lesson plans and materials for every one-on-one tutoring session. 

Tutoring takes place during the day at the school in a "learning lab" which is staffed by a Forward Scholars Site Coordinator. They are highly-qualified literacy specialists who are present for every session to coach and support volunteers and their students.