JustREAD

JustREAD was founded in 2005 when Judge Leonard Edwards, former Santa Clara County Superior Court Justice, made a plea to Molly McCrory and Mary Wright Shaw, founders of YES Reading/Reading Partners, which tutors elementary school children. He asked them to create a similar program for at-risk teens, those he saw in his courtroom, who could not rea... d and write well enough to graduate or get a job. Teachers, reading specialists, and other volunteers created a proprietary phonics-based curriculum for 6th through 12th graders (The JustREAD ToolBox). Corporations and individuals donated time and materials to create our first Reading Center, a nurturing environment for learning, in a building donated by the Mountain View-Los Altos School District. We began tutoring Alta Vista High School students, then expanded to Mountain View High School in 2007. As evidence of our success, MVHS created an elective class so that JustREAD students earn credits toward graduation. In 2008-2009 we expanded by opening two additional reading centers at Graham and Crittenden Middle Schools in Mountain View, CA. We piloted JustMATH at Crittenden in 2009-10 and developed the JustMATH ToolBox, a hands-on structured curriculum comprising the key materials that help students build math knowledge and fluency in a systematic way. JustMATH expanded to a full program in 2010-11. In 2009 we providedtraining services to teachers through the Santa Clara County Office of Education. They used JustREAD's curriculum to tutor middle school foster youth in their homes after school. In 2010 we trained tutors at East Palo Alto Tennis & Tutoring to use our curriculum in their program on the Stanford University campus. Additional trainings were provided in 2011. In 2012- 2013 over 100 JustREAD and JustMATH volunteers provided 4,277 tutoring sessions to 112 students. Although JustREAD is focused on skills development, we know that we are doing much more. Literacy and math are the keys to empowering students to reach their full potential, both as individuals ...Read More