Learning doesn’t end with a high school diploma or even a college degree.
In fact, adults with high school diplomas and college degrees still find themselves needing help with skills like reading, math and writing.
“Whether someone graduated from high school or not, there is a large part of our population who don’t have the reading, math, English or writing skills to participate fully in the community,” Parkland College’s Project READ Coordinator Donna Camp said.
“Somewhere between 20- to 30-percent of the adult population is functionally illiterate. There’s also a fair amount of data that says well over one-third of adults in the United States don’t actually understand the part/whole concept.
“It’s a much bigger number than people realize,” she continued.
Established and funded by the Illinois State Library, Project READ seeks to provide tutoring opportunities and private volunteer tutors to help adults establish better reading, writing, math and English language skills.
Parkland’s program has four drop-in tutoring locations throughout Champaign-Urbana that adults can use to get help as they work to strengthen their skills. Parkland also offers free courses for adults who wish to obtain their high school equivalency or for those who just want to learn the English language.
“Asking for help is really hard,” Camp said. “What we found with our drop-in sites in Champaign-Urbana is that people who are English language learners are more willing to come to a drop-in site because there’s no stigma with that. If you’re new to a country, of course you’ll want language help.
“But it’s really hard to walk into a room and say, ‘Hi, I’d like help with reading or math.’ ”
After spending several years unfunded by the State of Illinois, and a year back on its feet, Camp said Project Read is now ready to expand its tutoring volunteer services to local communities through East Central Illinois.
“I think the one-to-one model is easier,” she said. “To say, ‘hi, I’d like some help with math or reading or writing,’ and then I find the right person to do that. You’re sitting in a coffee shop, nobody knows what you are talking about.”
Camp said while some people Project READ works with are those who need to reach a ninth-grade level to obtain their high school equivalency, there are also those adults who want to reach a personal goal and need an extra boost.
“I meet a lot of people who have raised their children, maybe got their children through college, and now their children are saying, ‘Okay, mom, okay dad, it’s time for you to go back and finish your high school degree. You’ve done everything for me; now I want to see you do something for yourself.’ That’s really fun to work with those people,” she said.
Camp has also worked with adults who would like to write their life story.
“It’s been a long time since they were in school and had to do that,” she said. “So we might tutor someone in writing.”
But there are also younger adults who may need help obtaining a ninth-grade reading level for a job promotion or to become part of a union.
“The really nice thing about doing one-on-one or small group tutoring is that it can be designed for what the goals of the learners are,” Camp said.
If an individual is studying to become a plumber, electrician or whatever, Project READ can tailor the learning material to the profession.
“If someone wants to get into the Parkland College Ford Asset program, but they’ve been out of school for 10 years, and they aren’t feeling confident about their ability to take a college class successfully, we can choose materials that are related to mechanics and cars,” Camp said.
Parkland knows that even adults who have professional careers need extra help in today’s society.
“There are people with bachelor’s degrees who if you give computations, they do the formulas and solve the problems, but they don’t understand why it works,” Camp said.
“Often they find that out when their children get to that place in school and the children want help with their homework, and because it looks differently than the way they learned it in school, they realize they don’t actually understand the concepts to be able to explain it.”
Project READ will soon have a “Parent Lab” within the Champaign Unit 4 School District where parents can work with tutors so that they can go home and help their children with their math homework.
“(Parents) already know this, (they) just need to see how it’s presented in today’s classroom,” she said.
Getting to Champaign isn’t always an option for adults with careers and families within Project READ’s District 505, which stretches from Gibson City to Mahomet to Arcola and St. Joseph-Ogden.
“People are often surprised about Champaign-Urbana because of the University here; how could there be this huge need? The same thing is true in Mahomet. If you look at education and income and the school report cards; Mahomet does a whole lot better than the rest of the state, but there are still people in Mahomet and rural areas outside Mahomet who struggle with basic skills.”
“(Those learners) need to hear that we have people ready to work with you in your community in a time and place that is convenient to you,” Camp said.
“We will do our best to get them a tutor.”
While Parkland’s Project READ program wants learners to know that there are volunteers in each community waiting to provide assistance in reading, writing, math and the English language, Camp said that Project READ is also always looking to expand its volunteer base.
Tutors are required by the Illinois State Library to go through training to teach adult learners, must commit to two hours a week to work with a learner and must be willing to meet the learner in a public space.
Camp said that a tutor is going to receive just as much as they give out of the relationship.
“The stories that I hear really are about relationships as well as the learning,” she said.
While the relationship may begin with someone learning how to read, it often quickly evolves to where the learner is also sharing tips about cooking or art or math to the tutor.
“It goes both ways,” Camp added.
And Camp said the give and take isn’t always about something that has to do with academics.
While institutions like Parkland College value education, Camp said, “things like kindness are just as important.”
“I have a many-year career working with people who are considered underprivileged or impoverished, but those are the people who are feeding their neighbors and who are driving a person who doesn’t drive to the doctor’s office.”
To learn more about learning and tutoring opportunities, contact Parkland’s Project READ at projectread@parkland.edu or call 217.353.2662.
Camp said the Project READ staff is willing to travel to local communities to train tutors in groups if a Rotary Club, church group, book club or women’s club, among others, want to be trained to become a tutor.
