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In 2014, only 9% of Syracuse City School District third-grade students achieved New York state’s literacy standard. The same year, Book Buddies CNY opened with the mission of improving literacy rates across the district and returning students to their expected level.

Just over ten years later, the program has expanded to six elementary schools throughout the city and coordinates sessions between community volunteers and students. Now serving over 600 students, the program’s 500 volunteers help students improve their literacy, with around 97% of students improving at least one reading skill level after the district’s annual evaluation, Laurie Black, Book Buddies’ community education director, said.

Volunteers consist of community members and Syracuse University students. They meet Monday through Thursday to work with students in kindergarten through third grade. During the 30-60 minute meetings, volunteers help students learn the alphabet, develop comprehension skills and strengthen their reading.

“It’s hard work to become a reader. For them, it’s even harder and they have to actually spend more time doing the practice,” Black said. “Book Buddies gives kids an opportunity to take what they’re learning in the classroom, so good instruction is happening in the classroom, but all kids need more opportunities to practice what they’re learning.”

Syracuse’s high child poverty rate and low literacy rates are directly related, according to a study conducted by Onondaga Early Childhood Alliance between 2018 and 2022. Just under 6,700 Syracuse children between the ages of 0 and 5 are living in poverty and approximately 46% of children in the city are not receiving a formal education, according to OECA records.

Black said high-quality learning experiences like Book Buddies can help current students overcome these disadvantages. Volunteer sessions occur once or twice a week during lunchtime to ensure all students can participate, Black said.

“My favorite part of Book Buddies is when we go get the kids out of the lunch room and they come down to the room that we’re going to be in, they look in the doorway to make sure their volunteer is there and then they get so excited,” she said.

Lourdes Hernandez, a graduate student and teaching assistant at SU’s School of Education, said university students work with Book Buddies as part of a field requirement in the course EDU104: Experience in Inclusive Schools. Hernandez helps SU students manage one-on-one tutoring and observes students’ interactions and progress with the children.

Hernandez said the program makes children excited to learn and work with their reading buddies. Even the most reluctant readers build up confidence with reading and phonetic skills in a short amount of time, she said.
In the future, Hernandez said she hopes to see Book Buddies continue to grow and attract more attention from volunteers who are interested in supporting the literacy development of young people.

“(We) provide young readers with the strategies and tools they need to read words accurately in order to be able to make meaning of the texts they are interacting with,” Hernandez said. “With the help of the community, Book Buddies also helps young kiddos gain a positive and exciting perspective on reading.”

Aaron Lener, a sophomore at Syracuse University studying linguistics and international relations, volunteers with the program and said he’s found joy watching his students develop their abilities and learn to enjoy reading. One of his favorite memories from the program was when a buddy asked to read nine books with him to celebrate his ninth birthday.

“My buddies have shown absolutely incredible improvement,” Lener said. “Some of them struggled with simple letter recognition at the beginning of the year, and now we are getting through entire short stories together.”

As public schools transitioned back to in-person learning in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, educators reported delayed development in math and reading for many students. CBS News reported that while national test scores have risen since the post-COVID lows, students, particularly of lower socio-economic statuses, continue to test well below their 2019 results.

Black said Book Buddies has helped raise literacy rates in Syracuse from 13% post-pandemic to just under 20% in 2024. She said Book Buddies is still working on healing gaps within students’ learning from time missed out during the pandemic.

“Tutoring is something really common among higher-wealth families,” Black said. “They purchase tutoring all the time if their kids are struggling, lower wealth families don’t always have that opportunity so the need is there, it’s just whether or not there’s the finances to fund things like this.”

Published on February 17, 2025 at 10:52 pm

Contact Chloe: cfrinka@syr.edu