The Augustine Project was founded in 1994 by Holy Family Episcopal Church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. We train and support
volunteer tutors who provide
free, one-on-one, long-term instruction in reading, writing, and spelling to low income children and teens who struggle with
literacy skills. The program provides each tutor with 70 hours of training (classroom and practicum)
using
materials from the Wilson Reading System. This system is based on the Orton-Gillingham approach, a systematic, multisensory, phonetic teaching methodology that is proven to work with learning disabled children and others with reading difficulties.
Upon satisfactory completion of
the Augustine training, each tutor is paired with a low income child
and commits to work with him or her pro bono for a minimum of
60 sessions. Tutors usually meet with their students at the child's school
two or three times a week. An Augustine lesson is 45 minutes long.
Comprehensive pre and post testing - using professionally recognized
instruments to measure phonological awareness, word attack, rapid
naming, fluency, comprehension and spelling - is administered to evaluate student progress.
Because reading, writing and spelling difficulties can result in poor school performance and low self-esteem, families who are financially able send their children with language related learning differences to special schools or hire private tutors. In Durham and Chapel Hill, tutors charge from $25 to $60 an hour. The Augustine Project is committed to providing caring, professionally trained tutors for those whose families cannot afford to pay. The combination of nurture and knowledge that an Augustine tutor offers can be a struggling student's key to success in school and in life.
Tutor training sessions are offered every year in Durham and Chapel Hill. We offer full scholarships to needy trainees, and all participants are charged significantly reduced tuition because of their commitment to help a disadvantaged child. After the initial two-week training, Augustine tutors are provided with materials (including access to our resource library), ongoing support and continuing education opportunities. In addition to working with their "Augustine child", tutors can earn supplemental income by tutoring other students at market rates.
We serve students in grades 1 through 12 who attend Durham, Chapel Hill, Chatham or
Orange County public schools. Participants are referred to the program by family members, guardians, teachers, counselors or learning disability specialists. We do not require that our students meet the discrepancy criteria used by the state of North Carolina to determine eligibility for LD services in the public schools (a 15 point difference between ability and achievement scores obtained through a psycho-educational testing battery).
A number of our tutors go beyond academic language therapy and serve as advocates for their students, seeking appropriate testing, services and accomodations. This is important to the population we serve since support from home may be weak.
The Augustine Project has two paid staff members, an Executive
Director and an assistant. It is funded through grants,
church outreach funds and private donations.
The Augustine Project has been
successfully replicated in Winston-Salem and Charlotte NC, Houston Texas and Greenville, SC. We encourage
and support the creation of new chapters. To learn more about our
replication policy, click here.
