Information for Parents: Summer Tutoring Program

UPDATE (January 26, 2023): Camp Read-A-Lot will not be held during the summer of 2023.
We encourage you to review our Online Resources for Parents webpage and also your local library’s website for summer literacy activities.

The Reading and Writing Development Center at Kent State University offers services to children who have completed the first grade through grade 12, who are experiencing difficulty in reading.

The Center's summer tutoring program, which runs from mid-June to mid-July each year, operates more as a reading camp than as a summer school. Don’t let our camp-like atmosphere fool you, though. The teaching within the program is targeted, research-based, literacy intensive, and admittedly, lots of FUN!

The intervention program is actually a KSU graduate course. It is typically the last course that graduate students (already certified teachers) take before receiving their Reading Endorsement and/or their Master’s Degree in Reading Specialization. In the program, the teachers are assigned to work with 2-3 children. The teacher begins by assessing each child to identify the child’s literacy strengths and needs. Phonemic awareness, phonics, comprehension, fluency, spelling, writing skills and vocabulary are some of the areas that may be assessed. The instruction children receive is tailored to their individual needs based on the assessment results.

The children attend Camp Read-A-Lot for five weeks (Monday through Thursday about 1 1/2 hours per day). At the conclusion of the program, each small group of children has the opportunity to show off their new and improved reading skills at a Literacy Celebration. Parents and friends are invited to be a welcome and supportive audience as the children are anxious to show off their new-found skills, and happily read with new confidence.

In addition, the teachers will write a letter to share pre- and post-assessment results and to provide specific recommendations for home and school. In this way, a suggested plan can be in place for continued literacy progress once the program has ended. Parents are encouraged to share the report with school personnel in the fall.

Cost of the tutoring program is $160.00. Fee reductions may be made in cases of extreme financial difficulty.

For more information, please contact Sherry Ernsberger at sernsber@kent.edu or 330-672-2836.