STAIR of Birmingham

(1) Increase the reading level of children identified as having deficiencies in this subject area.
(2) Increase the confidence and self-esteem of participating first and second graders.
(3) Provide a caring and supportive environment that will help students overcome their literacy challenges.

STAIR trains volunteer tutors on how to utilize our step-by-step professionally detailed and copyrighted curriculum and staff provides on site support as well as continuing training for volunteers throughout the program year.

Additionally, due to our one-on-one tutoring model, students are able to work at their own pace with the same two tutors throughout the course of the year. This not only provides consistency and familiarity with the students' needs, it also creates a safe environment that allows them to flourish.

STAIR works with principals, teachers and reading coaches to identify students who are reading below grade level and are struggling with basic literacy skill development. Once identified, teachers then contact parents and caregivers to register students and to provide an overview of the program. After all participants have been identified and registered, STAIR pairs students with two volunteer tutors who work with the student weekly to provide over 50 hours of one-on-one tutoring. The program begins early in September and goes through the end of April each school-year.

STAIR provides the following services at no charge to the families of the participants or the schools:

Tutors: Each second grader will be assigned two, trained volunteer tutors that provide one-on-one support and remain with the student throughout the year.

Tutoring Sessions: Each second grader will receive tutoring twice per week—one hour per session.

Curriculum-Based Support: STAIR uses a step-by-step professionally detailed and copyrighted program that enhances the standards-based curriculum utilized within the public school system. Each volunteer tutor is trained to successfully use this program.

Educational Materials and Supplies: Participating students will receive workbooks/worksheets, alphabet cards and basic supplies--glue sticks, scissors, crayons, pencils, notebooks, and stickers—to ensure that they have the tools to be successful. Students will also have access to site-based lending libraries and free books for their home libraries.

Other Support: In addition to the above, STAIR provides healthy snacks, individual and family resource referrals as needed (like summer learning opportunities), and family engagement programs meant to recognize student achievement and involve the entire family in present and future success.

STAIR uses summative assessments to measure each student's gains in oral reading fluency (ORF) on a regular basis from the beginning of the program to the end. Formative assessments are built into the curriculum in the form of pre- and post-assessments for each unit completed. Those pre- and post-assessments measure gains in foundational knowledge, decoding, and problem-solving strategies applied while reading.

On average, reading fluency doubled across all STAIR sites during the 2021-2022 program year, increasing from a reading fluency of 20.2 words per minute to 41.8 words per minute by year end. When analyzing the data between the two grades, first graders actually tripled their reading fluency scores, jumping from an average of 8.5 words per minute to 25 words per minute. Looking at individual student data, we observed more second grade students scoring over 100 words per minute in reading fluency than in years past.

By year end, 21% of second graders and 19% of first graders had a reading fluency score above the national average. We are very pleased with these results, considering the fact that many first graders came to us not reading at all and, through their involvement in the STAIR program, they made their first steps into reading. One first grader named Ayden was reading at the end-of-second-grade level by the end of the program year.
When analyzing STAIR’s internal assessment results, students improved their Alphabetic and Letter Sound Knowledge by 48%, and their reading comprehension and ability to retell a story improved by 41%.

Students gained an average of three independent reading strategies per unit of STAIR curriculum. So for those who finished two units, most learned six new strategies, and for those who finished close to three units, they averaged a gain of nine new strategies. Reading strategies are techniques students can use to decipher the meaning of complex text as well as learn to read new and unknown words. Examples of reading strategies include: Looking at pictures to help figure out what is happening in a story; applying one’s own experiences to what the story is about; looking for familiar letters and words; asking questions; retelling the story; thinking about what would make sense; sounding out words in smaller chunks; looking for smaller words within big words; and asking yourself the question, “Did that sound right?”.

For the 2022-2023 school year, STAIR has shifted its progress assessments from reading fluency to more foundational skills and strategies, which will give us a more in-depth analysis as to why our students may be struggling with reading, with which skills and what aspects of the curriculum best helped them improve those skills. Our revised reading interview will paint a very clear picture of how much improvement we are helping students make in their foundational skills.