Portland Reading Foundation gives struggling readers in Portland Public Schools a “jump start” by helping them to develop key reading skills that will prevent reading failure.  There are many “literacy” programs in Oregon’s public schools, but Portland Reading Foundation’s program is unique in that we provide schools in low income neighborhoods with professionally trained reading tutors, who provide targeted, systematic, phonics based instruction to children at risk for failing to learn to read.  Instruction sessions with students include:  phonemic awareness, fluency drills, spelling instruction, word attack skills, and reading comprehension strategies.

Most students who have difficulty learning to read are no less intelligent than those who pick up this skill easily.  Their difference in ability has been traced to problems with "phoneme awareness" (recognition of the building blocks of sounds that make a word) and letter-sound recognition [Mann & Foy, Annals of Dyslexia, 2003], as well as other difficulties related to language processing. 

First graders participating in the Portland Reading Foundation intervention program, who have good attendance, typically make one to two years progress on the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills.  Children in third grade and above make slower progress because of poorly developed reading skills that must be “remediated,” and reliance on a “guess and go” approach. However, they do make progress.  Last year at Chief Joseph Elementary a 4th grader made 2.2 years growth in spelling and 1.9 years growth in reading of isolated words.  At Humboldt Elementary, a 4th grader made 1.7 years growth in spelling and 2.5 years growth in reading isolated words. 

Volunteer based mentoring and tutoring programs cannot provide the expertise needed to help struggling readers.  After school tutoring and the SMART program, may encourage students to enjoy books, but do not provide the child with a targeted intervention administered by trained specialists. For some children, direct instruction in phonological awareness and other basic skills for decoding the written word are necessary.  This kind of targeted intervention is recommended by the Chalkboard Project and by the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development.
  
Portland Reading Foundation’s main activities include:
• Partners with elementary schools serving low-income neighborhoods.
• Screens primary students to identify those most at-risk for failing to learn to read.
• Matches at-risk students with professional reading specialists.
• Provides one-to-one and small group tutoring sessions three times per week during school hours.
• Uses phonics-based, systematic multi-sensory strategies to improve fluency, comprehension, spelling, vocabulary, and writing.
• Trains paraprofessionals and teachers in multi-sensory techniques that support struggling readers.