Watch a video about the Forward Scholars story here.

Our Mission and Beginning

Together we build brighter futures and stronger communities through reading.

Forward Scholars is a community volunteer tutoring program focused on helping K-3rd graders who are not yet reading at grade level.

The program began in the fall of 2022 in 5 MPS schools and was wildly successful. Students grew nearly twice the expected yearly reading growth. For the 2023-2024 school year, we expanded our program to serve more than 180 MPS students in 7 schools and students made even more growth! Our tutored students gained an average of two grade levels in reading accuracy & fluency after eight months of tutoring. Our program is flourishing and we plan to grow for the 2024-2025 school year.

Forward Scholars was initiated by Common Ground, a 15-year-old community organizing group with a track record of success in a number of areas, including education. Common Ground’s leaders listened to community members and took action.

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.

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.

Is the Program Successful?

Yes. After the first year of tutoring (the 2022-2023 school year), students gained an average of over 1.5 years of growth with reading accuracy and fluency.

During the 2023-2024 school year, the average student grew 2 full years of reading accuracy and fluency. Forward Scholars is making a real impact on the Opportunity Gap for students of color who make up 99% of the student population that we serve. 

You can find more information in the End of Year assessments for the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years.

Our Numbers Prove It

During the 2023-2024 year, on average, students who received tutoring with Forward Scholars grew by more than 2 years in reading!