![](https://www.nadelgussman.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Michele-Fairchild-preparing-lesson-plan-1.jpg)
Michele leaves tutor notes in her student’s folder. Prepared lesson plans make tutoring sessions easy.
In Oklahoma, 4 out of 5 fourth graders from low-income families cannot read at grade level. This sobering statistic was a call to action for the Nadel and Gussman team to embrace Reading Partners, a national education nonprofit that works with Title I elementary schools to support students who are reading six months to two and a half years below grade level. Reading Partners uses a one on one tutoring model that enables community volunteers to help students master basic reading skills and grow to be successful learners.
![img_3943](https://www.nadelgussman.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/IMG_3943-e1615920002449-225x300.jpg)
Danita Cockrell with her student at Hawthorne Elementary.
With nearly a third of our Tulsa staff volunteering an hour or more per week to work with students at Academy Central and Hawthorne Elementary, we are determined to make a difference with our student partners. Last year, 90% of students in the program gained the skills needed to read at grade level during the school year.
You can also be a part of positively changing the trajectory of a child’s life by committing just an hour a each week. For information on how you can become a Reading Partner, visit http://readingpartners.org/location/tulsa/