成人快播

by聽Jill Tucker

April 1, 2015 / San Francisco Chronicle聽/

The police officer strode into the school on the southeast side of San Francisco, gun on his hip, blue uniform crisp, a no-nonsense look on his face. In this Bayview neighborhood, a cop often means something bad happened.

He stopped at the doorway of a classroom at Bret Harte Elementary and grabbed an orange lanyard with his name on it. The tag simply said, 鈥淜yle.鈥�

Officer Kyle Wren wasn鈥檛 at the school because there had been trouble; he was there to read.

Once a week, he volunteers with 成人快播, a national nonprofit in 160 schools across the country that provides literacy support to 8,500 elementary school kids who lag behind their peers in reading. Wren is among 15,000 volunteers who are helping them catch up.

While there are a lot of volunteer tutoring or literacy programs in schools, 成人快播 is different.

For starters, it isn鈥檛 free. The program is in 15 schools in San Francisco, with each school paying about a third of the cost for the services, which are offered during school, after school or both.

The volunteers are trained to use the 成人快播 model, step-by-step instructions for each hour-long session. Each child is paired with a volunteer, who is expected to commit to be there at least once a week for a semester.

The hour includes the volunteer reading for 10 minutes, then working on letter sounds, vocabulary or comprehension, depending on the reading level of the child. Some of the lesson is scripted so the volunteer knows what questions to ask or how to help an early reader with, say, the 鈥渙o鈥� sound in spoon, book or cool.

Effectiveness proven

Unlike many other programs, 成人快播 has been evaluated by independent researchers, who conducted a controlled study to quantify its effectiveness. For every month children are in the program, they gain a month and a half worth of literacy skills, said Michelle Torgerson, executive director of the organization鈥檚 Bay Area office.

Those results aren鈥檛 based on hunches or anecdotal evidence, she said.

鈥淲e use community volunteers in a really structured way,鈥� Torgerson said.

The independent study, conducted by the nonprofit research group MDRC, has shown that students鈥� behavior improves as well as confidence in their academic ability.

Bret Harte Principal Jeremy Hilinski is a fan of the program.

The 1-to-1 attention is critical, he said. And it鈥檚 attention from the same volunteer week after week.

They have somebody who is only interested in them at that moment,

Hilinski said, adding that having consistent volunteers helps build confidence and trust in the kids. 鈥淚 see the same faces over and over again. They鈥檙e a part of the community.鈥�

Variety of volunteers

In addition to the academics, the program seeks to bring in volunteers with a wide range of backgrounds 鈥� tech workers, college students, retirees and police officers 鈥� to offer students exposure to a world of possibilities.

鈥淲e believe kids can鈥檛 have enough positive role modes in their lives,鈥� Torgerson said.

Officer Wren is an imposing figure next to 8-year-old Adriana Rodriguez, his third-grade reading partner. But it was clear within the first minute of their hour together that she was not intimidated.

At her request, he pulled 鈥淒ork Diaries鈥� off the shelf and read about a Halloween dance and whether the girls in the story would wear Beyonc茅 and Juliet costumes or trash bags as Adriana sits quietly next to him.

Then they reviewed vocabulary words like 鈥渂are鈥� and 鈥渟teep鈥� and then moved on to an informational book about cheetahs that Adriana read out loud. The book addressed the eating habits of the wild animal.

鈥淲ould they eat us?鈥� Adriana asked Wren. 鈥淲hat if we鈥檙e nice to them?鈥�

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think they care about that,鈥� he said, looking a bit uncomfortable with the line of questioning.

Love of books

Wren said he signed up to be a reading tutor because his parents had taught him to read and because he was always reading when he was a kid. He wanted to share that love of books.

But he also wanted to be more than a scary cop.

鈥淜ids see you when parents are getting in trouble or something bad is happening,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f that鈥檚 the only interaction, what are they going to think?鈥�

Reading with kids like Adriana 鈥渋s completely absent that aspect of it.鈥�

But working with kids isn鈥檛 easy, he said. Hardened criminals he can handle. But an 8-year-old?

鈥淭his is harder,鈥� he said, smiling.

Adriana still isn鈥檛 quite sure what to make of her tutor. She said it鈥檚 鈥渨eird鈥� that a police officer reads with her when they otherwise take people to jail.

Still, 鈥渋t鈥檚 good,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 get to read a lot of books and I get to learn more things.鈥�

And what does she think of Officer Wren? The third-grader smiled at the question, but looked a little confused at the name. She doesn鈥檛 call him that.

What does she call him? Adriana shrugged her shoulders as if the answer were obvious.

鈥淜yle,鈥� she said.