Book Buddies Program Ms. Jeanette Rosenberg Book Buddies is a
research-based one-on-one tutorial program that supports reading
instruction in the classroom. It enlists trained community
volunteers to provide instruction to first and second grade
students who need extra support in literacy acquisition. The
program is in its 18th year of operation in the school division.
There are approximately 120 tutor-student pairs who are
supervised by eight reading specialists at five elementary
schools. Volunteers are trained to become effective tutors in a
two-hour group session in September and a follow-up building-
level session in January. They receive additional support
throughout the year by the reading specialists at each school. A
published manual is made available to the new tutors. The
reading coordinators write individualized lesson plans for each
tutoring session. They assess the students three times a year,
participate in scheduling, and maintain communication with the
students' classroom teachers. Research da