The Crimson White Print Edition - October 12, 2023

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How Reading Allies is helping literacy in elementary students
Makayla Maxwell
Race and Identity
Reporter
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Reading Allies is a
nonprofit literacy
program developed to
help children reach gradeappropriate
reading
levels. Through oneon-one
individualized
tutoring, the program
aims to help first, second
and third grade students
through community-based
teaching.
Claire Stebbins, codirector
of Reading Allies,
explains why this program
is so important to young
students.
“There’s a ton of
research and data that
says why reading on
grade level by the end of
third grade is so critical,”
Stebbins said. “One of
these being that students
who are not reading on
grade-level by the end of
third grade are four more
times likely to drop out of
high school.”
Since beginning the
organization in 2017,
Stebbins has seen a lot
of growth. It started with
15 kids, and now there
are over 350 elementary
students in the program.
“It was a collaboration
of the Rotary Club of
Tuscaloosa, the Honors
College and just a few
really engaged civic
leaders that asked, What
would happen if we took
our lowest, struggling
readers and individualized
lessons for them?”
Stebbins said. “We really
took it and started just as
an informal process where
the Rotary Club provided
the initial funding, and we
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Bella Martina
Natalie Teat
Riley Thompson
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Augustus Barnette
worked with 15 children
at Martin Luther King
Elementary and it was just
a wild success.”
Since then, Reading
Allies has expanded
to different schools
across Tuscaloosa, and
has amassed over 600
volunteers.
According to Dalis
Lampkins, a doctoral
student studying political
science, volunteers first
help the kids with reading
activities, then a few
writing exercises to help
them reach the required
literacy level.
“Volunteers work with
the same student every
week, so that they have
that familiarity, and they
are always really excited
when we come in the
morning and get to spend
some time with them,”
Lampkins said.
Lampkins has
volunteered with Reading
Allies for three years
now and has loved the
experience so far.
“It’s been really
wonderful for me because,
being a Ph.D. student,
I’m obviously very busy,”
Lampkins said. “So, I like
being able to take that
time each week to go
where I’m not working
on my dissertation or
anything on campus.
I’m just at Southview
[Elementary School]
spending time with a
student, working with
them on their reading
and writing.”
According to both
Stebbins and Lampkins,
Letter from the editor:
When will guns become less
important than students’ lives?
Ashlee Woods
Editor-in-Chief
This fall, colleges across
the country will partake
in homecoming festivities.
Students, parents and
alumni come together to
celebrate each other and life
at the college they attend.
But, for some,
homecoming looked vastly
different.
On the night of Oct. 8,
two students were shot
at Bowie State University
in Prince George’s County,
Maryland, in the midst of
the university’s homecoming
celebration.
This happened five days
after five students were shot
45 minutes away at Morgan
State University on Oct. 3.
Following the shooting, all
homecoming activities were
canceled.
“This was such a
senseless act of violence
perpetrated on our
community after what
was a family-filled and fun
evening of celebrating the
pageantry and beauty of
our students,” Morgan State
University president David K.
Wilson wrote in a statement
following the shooting. “But
Morgan is a strong family
and we will march on with
determination to keep
moving on.”
A time meant for bonding
a community further
together was instead spent
in mourning. Once again,
lives were permanently
changed. A campus was
changed, and once again,
there’s little hope that true
Courtesy of Reading Allies
the time requirement
for all volunteers is one
30-minute session a week.
The organization allows
volunteers to choose the
days and time that they
wish to attend, but most
volunteers end up wanting
to do more than one
session.
“A lot of volunteers are
returners, people that I
have been with the entire
time,” Lampkins said. “And
even my people who didn’t
return to Southview, it’s
because it didn’t fit their
schedule. I know that they
are at other schools.”
Programs such as
Reading Allies are growing
in importance since the
Alabama Literacy Act went
into effect earlier this
year. Proposed in 2019, the
act went into effect at the
beginning of the 2023-24
school year.
change will come.
While these events aren’t
connected, they underscore
a deeply rooted problem
in the U.S. — a lack of gun
control.
Mass shootings have,
unfortunately, become a
microcosm of American
society. A shooting occurs,
people mourn, there are
cries for gun reform, gun
reform doesn’t come and the
cycle restarts.
A constant, vicious cycle
that only continues to
happen because people in
public office in the U.S. have
made this one thing clear:
Guns will always be more
important than people's
lives.
Some leaders in the U.S.
have made efforts to unite
a campus community after
a shooting has occurred.
In Florida, governor Ron
DeSantis directed $1.1
million toward campus
security at Edward Waters
University and funds
for the victims’ families
following a shooting at a
local Dollar General. The
Florida Department of Law
Enforcement started visiting
the campus, monitoring
social media for threats and
working with the university
to assess its security.
Following the shooting at
University of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Gov. Roy Cooper stated that
the state would provide
support to the institution
and Chancellor Kevin
Guskiewicz would offer
counseling services for the
campus.
According to an article
from WSFA 12, between
10,000 and 12,000 third
grade students are at
risk of being held back in
Alabama due to this new
law. In the article, Alabama
State Superintendent
Eric Mackey says that the
current score needed to
advance to the fourth
grade is a 435, and he
expects the Alabama State
Department of Education
board will raise it next
year.
“That will mean by the
end of the school year, a
student that’s not reading
at a certain level will have
to repeat the third grade
until they meet that level,”
Stebbins said.
According to Stebbins,
the ultimate goal is
to expand outside of
Alabama, and hopefully
grow to be a national
These steps are decent
measures, but in the grand
scheme of life in the U.S.,
these measures address the
symptoms of a problem, not
the root cause.
While attacks on higher
education campuses are
somewhat rare, hard to
define and not tracked, that
doesn’t mean they don’t
happen. Furthermore, it
shouldn’t mean that we
should continue to sit idly
by while people's lives are
constantly ripped away
needlessly.
Until this country truly
and effectively addresses the
gun control problem it has,
it tells its citizens that the
access to guns and weapons
of mass destruction are
always more important than
their safety. This country
is telling students across
the country that they don’t
deserve the peace of mind
at school they so desperately
want.
My heart aches for the
victims of the Morgan State
and Bowie State shootings.
Those campuses will never
be the same after this. It’s
times like this where we
feel the most helpless,
wondering if there is
anything we as citizens can
truly do.
But it shouldn’t have to be
up to us.
The leaders we elect
need to step in and ensure a
safe and protected learning
environment. Otherwise, the
violent cycle will continue to
permeate all aspects of our
lives.
nonprofit organization.
“The goal in Tuscaloosa
city and county has always
been to serve every single
Title I school in those
school districts,” Stebbins
said. “And, by next fall, we
will have accomplished
that goal faster than we
ever thought possible. ...
We’ve created trainings to
go to other communities
around the state of
Alabama and outside
as well to show that we
have a proven model. So
hopefully one day there
will be a Reading Allies
Birmingham, or a Reading
Allies Montgomery.”
Stebbins encourages
anyone who wishes to
volunteer to visit the
Reading Allies website and
fill out the volunteer form.