Pledge Literacy Interventions

Pledge Literacy Interventions is a program that offers free, expert literacy interventions to some of the most impoverished and underprivileged children in our country, who face the additional challenge of not being able to read proficiently. The program ensures they have equitable access to quality reading instruction. Most Americans don’t realize that 66% of all students don’t reach grade-level reading skills by 4th grade—82% of African-American students, 73% of Latino students, 57% of Native American students, and 50% of White students. (Before the pandemic closed American schools, students’ reading scores were just as significantly low. They ranked far below the standard levels of developed countries worldwide.) Fourth grade is a critical milestone because it marks the point where children must transition from learning to read to reading to learn.  Only a small number of America’s 13,187 school districts offer effective instruction, and low-income and minority children are often further marginalized. Families of these students would not otherwise be able to access the personalized, expert, highly-effective reading interventions that Pledge provides unless they were free.

Pledge Literacy Interventions
U.S. States To Date

The Pledge Advantage

Pledge Literacy Interventions exclusively hires Wilson© Level I and II Certified reading experts. America is flooded with post–pandemic tutoring programs, staffed by teachers with limited knowledge of the science of reading instruction and unable to work with all learners, or by volunteers with limited training who must strictly follow scripted lessons. Pledge interventionists undergo hundreds of hours of coursework and supervised instruction, enabling them to successfully teach all students to read, including those with language-based disabilities. With nearly 14,000 teachers trained at this level by Wilson Language Training©, Boon is confident that Pledge will expand from its current 12 states to all 50.

Pledge interventionists can help all students achieve reading success much faster than most classroom teachers. Research and Pledge results show that these tutors, who use structured language instruction based on the science of reading, can achieve at least one year of grade-level growth in just 40 hours of instruction, compared to the inefficient 330 hours usually spent on reading each year in a typical public school classroom.

Pledge Literacy Interventions is a flexible program advantageously not connected to schools, the education system, or its calendar. Boon’s program independently connects interventionists with students in real-time. The program is designed to operate 12 months of the year—remote or in-person, after school or summer—at times that benefit families the most.

Each Pledge interventionist works within her network and community to identify children from schools and after-school or summer programs for low-income students. Connections with local organizations are also established to facilitate this process.

One common flaw in typical reading instruction is poor assessment of student performance in grades 1-3. Pledge offers free, detailed pre- and post-assessments of students’ reading skills using WIST and Woodcock-Johnson II testing. Students are evaluated before entering the program and again after 40 hours of intervention. Once the initial scores are obtained, students’ needs are identified, and those with similar needs are paired to maximize the effectiveness of intervention sessions. Students receive 40 hours of intervention, divided into two one-hour sessions each week over 20 weeks.

Outcomes are impressive for most individual students, with a minimal one-year grade level improvement. To date, all students have greatly improved their reading performance and are on their way to becoming strong readers. These students return to school with increased enthusiasm, more attention to homework, a reduced inclination to drop out, and a more positive outlook on their futures.

Boon Donors have the opportunity to turn Pledge Literacy Interventions into a nationwide phenomenon that could not only alleviate the reading crisis but also help children out of poverty and provide them with equitable opportunities to succeed in life.

Shira Engle, Pledge Literacy Intervention Tutor