The Reading Team: A Lifeline to Literacy

Hear from Reading Team founder Maureen Rover in this “New Yorker of the Week” interview with NY1.

Maureen Rover visits with Reading Team After-School Program students.

Maureen knew that children with inadequate early language development and reading skills are likely to start school behind their more advantaged peers and remain behind them throughout their schooling and for the rest of their life. She also was aware that a disproportionate share of Black and Hispanic children in underserved neighborhoods consistently failed the New York State English Language Arts Exam. When Bertrand Brown, then District 5 Superintendent, encouraged Maureen to start her own organization in Harlem, she accepted the challenge.

FROM 72 CHILDREN to 10,000+ CHILDREN

In our first year, we served 72 children. Enrollment grew from there and, over 20 years, the organization has helped thousands children who were at high risk of reading failure to achieve substantial and lasting success through its powerful literacy-immersion programs.

THE READING TEAM TODAY

Today the Reading Team is regarded as one of the most effective programs of its kind, a lifeline to literacy for the children of Harlem. In a typical year, its focused programs serve more than 350 children from prekindergarten through fifth grade, measurably transforming their academic and life trajectories. Reading Team Literacy Coaches bring the organization’s program to nine neighborhood day care centers and Head Start programs. Teachers at 17 public, charter, parochial, and private elementary schools refer children in Grades K-5 to our After-School Program.