Funding for the program comes from a range of supporters, including Brown Memorial. Eighty percent is raised through generous donations from individuals and foundations committed to advancing literacy and helping the children of Baltimore City succeed.
Consider volunteering to tutor. Tutors commit roughly 90 minutes a week during the public school year. Come visit us to experience the joy and magic that occurs daily.
For more information about becoming a volunteer tutor, please contact Martha Socolar, Program Director, at msocolar@browntutoring.org. If you would like to donate or to learn about other ways to support the Brown Memorial Tutoring Program, please contact Tracy Cerrato, Development Director, tracy@browndowntown.org. Or you can call the Tutoring Program directly: (410) 523-1542, ext. 108.
The Brown Memorial Tutoring Program is a nonsectarian program overseen by a Commission (or Board).
Martha Socolar, Director
Karlin Scudder, Assistant Director
Tracy Cerrato, Development Director
Our mission is to provide individualized, structured literacy instruction to Baltimore City elementary school students to build their skills, gain confidence, and awaken a love of reading.
At the Brown Memorial Tutoring Program, every child’s success is celebrated, no matter how small or large. We want our students to experience the increased confidence and sense of pride that comes with achievement.
Read about some program highlights and accomplishments from the Tutoring Program’s newsletter, For the Love of Reading.
Each year between 80 and 90 students, first through fifth grade, from Baltimore City Public Schools participate in the Brown Memorial Tutoring Program. All students come from low-income families. The tutoring program works closely with school administrators and teachers to identify students who would benefit most from individualized reading instruction. Most of these children are struggling in school and are well below grade level in reading.
We proudly partner with Mt. Royal Elementary/Middle School, the Baltimore Montessori Public Charter School, and Dorothy I. Height Elementary School.
The Brown Memorial Tutoring Program, which is free for students, is unique among most volunteer tutoring programs in that our sessions take place during the school day. Students are matched with the same tutor for the entire year and receive 75 minutes of one-on-one instruction in reading. Each year the Tutoring Program staff picks a theme to study and develop throughout the year in order to expand the knowledge base of our students and to provide writing and reading incentives.
One of the Tutoring Program’s main goals is to inspire a love of reading. One way to achieve this is to help children build their own home library. We provide all participating students with 10 new books throughout the year (four of which are mailed during the summer). The books are selected to match the interest and skill level of each student.
The UK’s National Literacy Trust surveyed nearly 60,00 children and teens in 2019 and found that children who own books in comparison to children who do not own a book are:
*Six times more likely to read above the level expected for their age (22% vs 3.6%)
*Nearly three times more likely to enjoy reading (56.2% vs 18.4%)
*More than twice as likely to agree that reading is cool (42.5% vs 16.6%)
Our dedicated volunteer tutors come from a variety of backgrounds, professions, and experiences. At the beginning of the school year, tutors receive excellent training in reading instruction based on the Orton-Gillingham method, and workshops on elements of reading instruction are conducted throughout the year. Program staff are available at all sessions to guide and support the tutors, and there is an extensive library of books and teaching resources.
Every year we carefully assess each student’s progress by administering pretests at the start of the tutoring year and post assessments in May. Year after year our test results show our students achieved solid progress often advancing by two or more grade levels—a major achievement for students who are often two or three grade levels behind.
While our focus is literacy, the program provides other critical benefits to the children we serve—having a caring adult be a consistent part of their lives each week and exposing them to new ideas and possibilities.
Funding for the program comes from a range of supporters, including Brown Memorial. Eighty percent is raised through generous donations from individuals and foundations committed to advancing literacy and helping the children of Baltimore City succeed.
Consider volunteering to tutor. Tutors commit roughly 90 minutes a week during the public school year. Come visit us to experience the joy and magic that occurs daily.
For more information about becoming a volunteer tutor, please contact Martha Socolar, Program Director, at msocolar@browntutoring.org. If you would like to donate or to learn about other ways to support the Brown Memorial Tutoring Program, please contact Tracy Cerrato, Development Director, tracy@browndowntown.org. Or you can call the Tutoring Program directly: (410) 523-1542, ext. 108.
The Brown Memorial Tutoring Program is a nonsectarian program overseen by a Commission (or Board).
Martha Socolar, Director
Karlin Scudder, Assistant Director
Tracy Cerrato, Development Director