Book Buddies

All second and third grade students will read on grade level by the end of the school year.

Did You Know?

• Children reading below grade level at the end of first grade only have a one in eight chance of ever catching up without significant intervention.
• Thirty-six percent of the second graders in Bartholomew County do not read well enough to pass the third grade Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress (ISTEP).
• Planning for the number of prison cells needed in Indiana is based on the number of students not passing ISTEP in 3rd grade.
• 36% of Bartholomew County students are not meeting the requirements for their grade level.
• 75% of struggling readers at the end of fourth grade will continue to struggle in high school and drop out.

Book Buddies provides individualized tutoring support for the youth in Bartholomew County. There are programs in 11 public schools in the Bartholomew County School Corporation. Second & third graders reading below grade level receive 30 minutes of one-on-one tutoring 4 days a week from Book Buddies volunteers. With 100 days of tutoring, many children go on to excel in school. Most of the students involved in Book Buddies were reading on grade level by the end of the year. Book Buddies has had enormous success in its first years and received the Youth Investment Award from the Indiana Youth Institute in 2008. The program was selected as one of ten exemplary programs serving Hoosier Children.