Center plugs learning hole
San Bernardino Sun 2/24/07
Above the buzz of students sounding out words and reading with tutors, what Mary Jo Skillings calls "the hum of learning" is taking place at the Watson & Associates Literacy Center.
Skillings, the center director, started the literacy center in 2003 in her office by tutoring just one child. Today, the center is housed in a portable classroom and serves children of all ages, helping them improve their reading and writing skills.
But next year, it will be housed in the new College of Education at the university.
"It's a really important way to serve the community and we wanted to do it on a broader scope," Skillings said.
"We have such a high dropout rate in this region, and kids are falling through cracks, usually because of literacy problems."
On Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the literacy center is open to the public.
Tammy Ayers of San Bernardino brings her foster daughters, 9-year-old Melvina and 11-year-old Arayia Franklin, to the center every Monday.
"As soon as it's Monday they say, `It's tutor time!"' Ayers said.
The center also helps the girls keep up with their reading when they're off-track from school, Ayers said.
On Thursdays, teens in the care of the San Bernardino County Probation Department are bused in for tutoring.
"We have 15-year-olds reading at a first-grade level," Skillings said. "And it's not just their problem. It's society's problem because these kids will be successful at something, and it won't be academics. Unless they are able to read and process text, we'll fall behind as a nation.
"We have to do something about this nation's literacy problem. We need to focus on how we can help families early on."
Guadalupe Gardner of Rialto, who has been bringing her daughter, Kanessa, to the center since last year, says her reading grades have improved.
"She struggles with reading - straight through - and I heard about this from a friend," Gardner said. "This is definitely a big help. I have no idea what it would cost to pay for a tutoring service but I've heard it's expensive."
Kanessa, 7, describes studying at the literacy center as "better than doing regular homework."
"I read and get mixed up with words sometimes," she said. "But it's helping me."