Kathleen Moore is reporting for the Times Union the national reading program, Reading Partners, is expanding its tutor base into the Capital Region. Reading Partners is hoping to recruit 500 tutors from upstate New York to instruct students in New York City virtually. Each would be assigned one child in kindergarten through fourth grade to tutor twice a week for 45 minutes. The program has been used nationally for 22 years and makes it possible for two-thirds of its students to catch up to grade level after one year. “Our entire program model is one-on-one, high-dosage tutoring,” said Primo Lasana, executive director of Reading Partners. “Volunteers literally have a script to follow. Each lesson starts with a tutor read-aloud that’s of interest to the student to get them interested and excited.” The program progresses step by step, through each reading challenge – from words that cannot be sounded out, to letter blends that do not sound like the original two letters. To qualify for the tutoring program, students must be 6 months to 2½ years behind grade level. At the end of their first year of tutoring, 82 percent of students in kindergarten through second grade have caught up; 75 percent of third and fourth graders are reading at grade level, Lasana said. Reading Partners may soon expand to work with students in upstate New York. Information on the program is available at ReadingPartners [dot] org. Read the full story in the Times Union.