The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) has announced Literacy Mid-South is one of three Tennessee organizations selected to receive a Connected Literacy Partners 2.0 grant. Literacy Mid-South will receive $1.5 million from TDOE to serve an additional 1,500 second- and third-grade students attending Memphis-Shelby County Schools and area public charter schools with free, in-school literacy tutoring.
Through a number of programs, Literacy Mid-South provides literacy resources to learners of all backgrounds and ages with a goal of working towards 100% literacy in the Mid-South. The Tutor901 program provides high-impact tutoring, one of the most effective interventions for increasing academic achievement of students who are behind grade-level proficiency.
This expansion comes just one year after Literacy Mid-South received a TN ALL Corps Community Partner grant from TDOE to implement Tutor901. Due to recent changes in Tennessee’s third grade retention policy, thousands of Memphis-Shelby County Schools and charter school third graders are at risk of being retained next year, unless they participate in high-impact tutoring in fourth grade.
“TDOE’s increased investment in our work is coming at a critical time for our community,” said Sam O’Bryant, III, executive director of Literacy Mid-South. “The Connected Literacy grant allows Literacy Mid-South to further step up to support our young readers in building necessary literacy skills.”
Working across 24 schools, the Tutor901 program will allow rising fourth graders to avoid retention while also supporting rising second and third graders in developing foundational reading skills prior to the critical third-grade test.
“We are grateful to the Tennessee Department of Education for their continued support of Literacy Mid-South’s work,” said Dr. Chandra Alston, board chair of Literacy Mid-South. “On behalf of Literacy Mid-South’s staff and board, we are thrilled to be able to expand the Tutor901 program to support additional students and increase employment pathways for the critical educator pipeline in Memphis.”
Literacy Mid-South plans to hire a cohort of 75-90 tutors per semester with an average pay of $25 per hour. Details on tutor positions will be available later this summer. To learn more about Literacy Mid-South’s Tutor901 program, visit Tutor901.org.