Moving Beyond the Achievement Gap With a Different Approach to Literacy

Editor's Note: Through a collaboration with the Indiana University Indianapolis Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, The Patterson Foundation's Nonprofit Internship Program connects students at the school with opportunities at nonprofits in the Suncoast region. These internships offer students hands-on experience in the nonprofit sector while supporting organizations with high-impact projects. The result is a stronger learning experience for students and valuable outcomes for nonprofits. Nonprofits interested in hosting an intern can submit a 1–2-page internship profile to TPF Fellow Ericia Henry at EHenry@thepattersonfoundation.org. Once reviewed, profiles will be shared with students by Pamela Clark, Assistant Dean at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Need help getting started? View sample job descriptions to guide your profile development here.

Since 1966, educators have recognized that public education has not served children in poverty equitably, a challenge often labeled the achievement gap. Over time, blame has been placed on parents, teachers, and systems, but assigning blame has done little to improve outcomes.

Rocket Phonics takes a different approach. By demonstrating that students can gain a year of literacy growth in just 10 hours of tutoring, regardless of socioeconomic status, it shows what is possible when instruction is aligned with how children actually learn. When an organization does something that hasn't been done before, it begins to remove barriers. That's why our remote intern was able to design videos to train tutors online, making it possible to respond to growing demand beyond what in-person training allows.

Why is this so important? It takes about 10 hours of tutoring for a student to gain a year in literacy skills, regardless of socioeconomic status. Since being adopted as a reading intervention by the Florida Department of Education, we have been asked to support districts across the state and are now getting inquiries from other states. We cannot begin to meet this demand without the ability to train online.

More importantly, the Rocket Phonics Foundation needs a repository of its institutional knowledge for an effective succession plan. These videos are the first step in that plan. They need to be presented in an orderly fashion that seeks understanding before moving on. Our intern got this. He loved working remotely. And he brought his creativity, his tech skills, and his enthusiasm. Together, we learned a lot about how to make these videos fun and connected. I wish we could have had him longer.

Our next intern is going to help design our bilingual version of Rocket Phonics. I can't wait to see what she comes up with. We have so many children coming to us who don't speak English well, we need new, fun lessons that help them learn. The synergy between this intern, our children, tutors, and our board will be extraordinary. Stay tuned, more is to come.