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Let's Hear It for the CHAMP

Credential candidates help high school students read

A perfect match: willing credential candidates and high school students needing help with their reading. This fall semester, students in the credential program in the Department of Education are participating in CHAMP (Chico High School Academic Mentoring Program) to address the literacy needs of a group of low-performing students at Chico High School (CHS).

With heightened concern about standardized test scores across the state, public schools are working hard to find ways to assist struggling student readers. The Department of Education and Chico High School have responded by creating CHAMP. Liz Metzger, an English teacher in the Academy of Communications and Technology and a grant-writer at CHS, wrote the three-year, $250,000 grant. Eric Nilsson, English teacher and mentor program coordinator, administers the program. (Both Metzger and Nilsson are CSU, Chico alums.)

About 25 first-semester credential candidates taking a required literacy course are working with students, especially English language learners, in small groups or on a one-to-one basis. CSU, Chico students donate two hours a week in active mentoring in an academic literacy classroom under the supervision of the school's designated literacy intervention specialist.

"The CHAMP students are excited to be in the program and are eager for our help," said credential candidate and CHAMP mentor Erin Ryan. "The interactions with them and the one-to-one have been very positive and effective."

The university literacy course work guides the candidates as they identify a struggling reader, perform diagnostic assessments to determine reading levels and English oral language proficiency, and implement appropriate intervention strategies.

"One of the most exciting aspects of this partnership is that our students have been given the opportunity to affect change and see results. The high school students with whom they are working are responding enthusiastically to the individual attention and, more important, are acquiring the motivation to read," said Debbie Summers, assistant professor in the Department of Education.

The credential candidates will also conduct a post-test to determine overall effectiveness of the program and use the results to train the next group of credential candidates.

All struggling readers at CHS are eligible, but they must volunteer and give up an elective to participate in the program. CHAMP is funded by an Office of the Secretary for Education, Academic Volunteer, and Mentor Service Program grant.

Ed Williams, Education