Cleveland Students Are Literacy Tutors

Kricia Machada, a junior at Cleveland High School in Reseda, knows the value of one-on-one tutoring. And so does her student, Lorena Reynoso, who will start third grade in the fall at Napa Elementary School in Northridge.

“I’ve seen a big improvement in her reading,” said Kricia, a Northridge resident.

Kricia is one of 26 present and former students of Stephanie Slaughter, child development teacher at Cleveland, who has volunteered for Cleveland’s inaugural Summer Tutoring Program, funded by a $2,000 grant from the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Since July 7, the Cleveland students have provided one-on-one literacy tutoring to more than 100 Napa students, grades one through five, every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning, Slaughter said. The semester ends Aug. 14.

The students use a tutoring method called “Literacy Loop Program” developed by Action Learning Systems Inc., a Monrovia-based educational consulting firm, Slaughter said.

Katherine Kobliner, a spokeswoman for Action Learning Systems, said the method has three parts: reading, interactive skill building, such as word games and flash cards to reinforce what has been read, and art projects based on the reading material.

“We provide the basics, but the tutors develop their own lesson plans for the week,” Kobliner said.

This week, Kricia had Lorena make a picture dictionary and paper puppets based on the book “Tales From the Care Bears,” which they read together Tuesday.

While the program is designed to make reading more enjoyable for the elementary school students, Kricia said that she has also noticed improvements in Lorena’s literacy skills.

“When we began, she was reading about 16 words per minute and had trouble reading second-grade books,” Kricia said. “Now she has no problems reading at the third-grade level.”