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NKEC’s One to One reading program receives $15k grant from Duke Energy Foundation; be a coach


The Northern Kentucky Education Council’s One to One Reading programs recently received a $15,000 Duke Energy Foundation Grant that will help deepen and expand One to One programs in 14 Northern Kentucky school communities by providing:

Recruitment and training of more One to One Reading Coaches,

• Additional Parents as Partners cohorts, and

• New resources and books for students and families.

To help customers and communities recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, Duke Energy has awarded grants to numerous organizations throughout Kentucky and Ohio. The foundation grant awarded to the Northern Kentucky Education Council specifically addresses one of their top priority areas – summer reading loss experienced by rising kindergartners through rising third graders with an emphasis on addressing new gaps/barriers created by COVID.

“We are so grateful for the generous support of the Duke Energy Foundation,” said Polly Lusk Page, Director of One to One. “The grant will support both students and families as we emerge from this pandemic, providing them with valuable resources that will help them advance and improve their reading skills.”

One to One offers business leaders, community volunteers, and parents/guardians an opportunity to play an integral role in helping young students with the necessary support to be successful in reading.

“We are proud to support the One to One Reading Program at the Northern Kentucky Education Council,” said Amy Spiller, president, Duke Energy Ohio and Kentucky. “We know that strong reading skills are fundamental to building students’ confidence as early learners to help them thrive and succeed in life.”

Dr. Randy Poe, Executive Director of the Northern Kentucky Education Council, said “Our One to One Reading programs offer tutoring by trained coaches and provide parents/guardians with resources needed to help their children. By leveraging these cohesive strategies in and out of school, we will be able to help mitigate the affect that the pandemic has had on learning for some our youngest students in Northern Kentucky.”

Working in concert with parents, coaches, schools, and partners is critical to alleviate disparities in learning. Dr. Janice Wilkerson, Assistant Superintendent, Covington Schools shares “We will need our One to One Reading Coaches more than ever this year as we return to full-time in-person learning with all of our students. We can’t wait to have our coaches in our schools again!”

One to One partners with more than 30 schools in Northern Kentucky. Volunteer coaches are trained to tutor students in 1st-3rd grade during the school year and help them gain confidence in their literacy skills. In addition, the One to One Parents as Partners program provides a multi-generational approach by working with parents/guardians in the same school community where children are being tutored. Parents learn effective reading strategies to use with their child to help increase their growth in reading.

One to One is currently seeking new reading coaches for the 2021-2022 academic year. Coach training sessions are scheduled in August and are open for registration.

Coaches meet with the same student once a week for 35 minutes.
Coaches are required to attend a five-hour training (free of charge).

Trainings provide coaches with specific strategies and activities to help young students develop reading skills.

Coaches receive materials and supplies to use during the weekly training sessions.

To learn more about One to One and upcoming training dates, visit www.nkyec.org.


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