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Mission 

To provide disadvantaged, at-risk children in Baltimore City public schools with the opportunity to build their literacy skills, regain their confidence, and succeed in school. 

Background 

Started in 1964 as a community outreach project by members of the Brown Memorial Church in West Baltimore who were concerned about disparities in literacy skills among children from the surrounding neighborhoods who came to various church activities and demonstrated real struggles in reading. 

While our focus is literacy, the program provides other critical benefits to the children we serve – having a caring adult be a consistent part of their lives each week and exposing them to new ideas and possibilities. 

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Martha Socolar, Director of the Brown Memorial Tutoring Program and Board Chair Mary Obrecht are recognized at the Champion in Life Celebration

Martha Socolar, Director of the Brown Memorial Tutoring Program and Board Chair Mary Obrecht are recognized at the Champion in Life Celebration

Population Served 

Each year approximately 75 to 80 students from four Baltimore City Public Schools participate in the Brown Memorial Tutoring Program and receive 75 minutes of one-on-one instruction in reading. The program’s goal is to help students improve their reading and writing skills and to awaken in them a love of reading. 

The children in the program are in grades 1-5 and most attend the program for two to three years. The tutoring program works closely with the schools’ principals and teachers to identify students who would benefit most from individualized reading instruction. Most of these children are struggling in school and are well below grade level in reading. 

AMID THE PANDEMIC

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BMTP had to quickly adjust their tutoring program’s format from in-person to virtual when the pandemic hit, while still meeting the needs of their students. One-on-one tutoring sessions resumed virtually in October with 55 children, which is a 96% retention rate from last year. The tutors, trained in Orton-Gillingham method, are using a digital library from Epic Books to select the correct leveled readers for each student. Each session features group time and one-on-one lessons, and allows the students to demonstrate their reading skills, comprehension, and fluency while still building and maintain mentoring relationships. 

Example of the Tutoring Program’s Value 

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In just one example, recently a 4th grade boy came not even able to read 3-letter words with any consistency or confidence. “Troy” did not know the alphabet and could not write his last name. He had been put in a special education class because he was making no progress in school. Within several weeks he mastered the alphabet, could write his last name, learned all the short vowel sounds and began to read phonetically controlled books out loud to the other students at circle time, with obvious pride. Throughout the rest of the year he and his tutor worked on consonant digraphs and blends, two-syllable words, and memorizing “sight words.” 

Grant Use 

Brown Memorial Tutoring Program used their funds: 

  • To purchase books provided to the students throughout the summer months 

  • To help expand and replenish the supply of resource materials in the Tutoring Program’s library, such as books, readers, games supporting specific reading skills, and workbooks 

  • To help with the costs of the van transportation service that brings the students to the Tutoring Program during normal school hours 

  • To help with the cost of yearbook printing and the cost of the year-end dinner celebration for the students and their families 

  • To help pay for the costs of the intensive training tutors receive every September prior to starting the program year 

Brown Memorial tutors are more than partners - they have become family. Family that loves and cares for our children in a genuine manner.
— Tamara Hanson, Principal of Dorothy Height Elementary, on the value of their partnership