Adult Education

The Reader's Route

Take the route to learning...Take the Reader's Route!

Coordinator: Scott Heatherton 443-8785
Recruiter Trainer: Louise Free 443-8868

The Reader's Route will provide tutors for those students who read below the 9th grade level. You need to request a tutor with either your teacher or make an appointment at one of the numbers above to be tested and placed with a tutor. Volunteers are used in both classroom and community based instruction.

Mission
Operating under the umbrella of Adult Education, the Reader’s Route recruits and trains volunteers to help adults read better thereby increasing the literacy rate in Community College District #507.

The purpose of the Literacy Program is to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment so that students gain academic accomplishments, which in turn foster self-esteem and personal satisfaction.

The Reader’s Route, Danville Area Community College’s Adult Education Literacy Project, helps adults (16 and older) who are not enrolled in a traditional school improve their lives by training volunteers to tutor in reading, math and English as a Second Language.

Who

• The Reader’s Route serves adults who:
• Read below the ninth grade level
• Compute below the ninth grade level
• Speak English as a Second Language
• Attend Adult Education classes in college district #507 and Danville Correctional Center
• Needs help improving their families’ literacy level

How

• Volunteers, recruited from the community, work approximately two hours per week tutoring adults either one-to-one or in small groups at 76 sites throughout the district. At area social agency sites, staff and volunteers work with parents and children in order to improve the families’ literacy skills.
• Adult learners can sign up for help at the Adult Education Department in Prairie Hall. Campus classes meet five mornings or two evenings per week. Classes are also available at various extension sites.
• Computer-assisted instruction is offered in the Reading Lab on campus.
  Reader's Route students meet 2 hours once weekly. Tutoring is open when tutors are available.

Cost

• Both tutoring services and Adult Education classes are offered at no cost to the student. Also, there is no cost for either tutor-training sessions or advanced tutor seminars.
  
  For more information, contact:
  The Reader’s Route
  217-443-8868
  

WHO DOES THE READER’S ROUTE HELP?
Adults over 16 who read below the ninth grade level are tutored in Reading, Math, English as a Second Language and Family Reading.

Our Student Population make-up is:

• 71% minority
• 12% employed
• 22% female
• 88% tutored in reading
• 07% tutored in math
• 03% tutored in family reading
• 16% tutored in English as a Second Language (ESL)

Services provided by Reader’s Route Volunteers:

• Tutoring in Reading, Math, English as a Second Language and Family Reading
• Reading Celebrations at Danville Public Library
• Family Reading Night at the Head Start Centers
• Book distribution to new mothers at Provena Medical Center, Vermilion County Health Department and Human Services Office

READER’S ROUTE VOLUNTEERS** ARE ADULTS OF ALL AGES PUTTING COMMUNITY SERVICE INTO ACTION
** Volunteers participate in twelve hours of training in tutoring techniques
Our Volunteer Populations consists of:

• 78% Reading Tutors
• 27% English as a Second Language Tutors
• 08% Inmate Tutors at Danville Correctional Center
• 03% Math Tutors
• 04% Family Reading Tutors
• 15% volunteers in other capacities
  (numbers may be duplicated)

Help is needed in: Tutoring, Clerical Work, Reading Celebrations Helper, Family Reading Night Storytellers, Advisory Board, book distribution projects.
Member, Public Relations
Volunteers typically provide 2 hours per week as a Reader’s Route Volunteer

The Reader's Route is part of the PRO LITERACY WORLDWIDE which is a merge of Literacy Volunteers of America and Laubach Literacy.

Links to other literacy pages and places promoting reading:

http://novel.nifl.gov/external.html
Danville Public Library
Lonely Blue Coyote

Send us your comments via e-mail to: lfree@dacc.edu