If you are serious about improving the reading performance of struggling readers in your school or district, including students with disabilities and those served by Title 1, I have some good news for you. A scientifically based one-on-one, reading mentoring program has been getting great results in Ohio. And the wonderful thing is that it's an extremely affordable program costing approximately from $1 to $2 per tutoring hour to implement. This is definite good news when districts are tightening their belts during difficult economic times.

The program, known as Project More (Mentoring in Ohio for Reading Excellence), has been in effect since 2002. The Center for Evaluation Services out of Bowling Green State University has been gathering, analyzing, and interpreting data on the program for each year of its implementation. According to Dr. Rich Wilson, Co-Director for the Center, "Over the past six years, evaluation results have shown that Project MORE students with specific learning disabilities (SLD) have made a one-month reading gain for each month of structured intervention."

Learning A-Z has had the good fortune to be part of this outstanding program. Our involvement began in 2004 when, in collaboration with the principals of Project More, Dr. Jan Osborne, Superintendent of Putnam County Schools, and Amy Freeman, Project MORE Director, we developed the Reading-Tutors.com website to deliver packets of reading resources for use during tutoring sessions. When a volunteer tutor enters a school to tutor a needy student, he or she is handed a Reading-tutors packet that includes a book, a lesson, activity sheets, and a game. These packets provide learning objectives and an instructional purpose to each tutoring session.

I have personally visited Project MORE schools and have witnessed the benefits that Project MORE delivers to struggling readers as students meet with their mentors three to four days a week. I have also witnessed the benefits gained by those who are tutoring children. In particular, middle- and high-school students, who are serving as tutors in many of the schools, are learning the value of volunteerism and community service. This program truly benefits kids, parents, tutors, and the entire community.

Project MORE has demonstrated that one-on-one volunteer tutoring programs can have EARS--that is, they can be effective, affordable, replicable, and sustainable. This program can be implemented anywhere in the country. If you are interested in more information about Project MORE, contact Amy Freeman, Project MORE Director, at 888.319.3560, email afreeman@pm.noacsc.org, or visit ohioprojectmore.org. I would encourage you to learn more about the project and ways in which it can help your school or district's reading program. The Project MORE team is a tremendously dedicated group of educators with a burning passion to help children with disabilities as well as others who struggle to read.