The Mission

SAReads is a campaign, coordinated by Literacy San Antonio, Inc., dedicated to making grade-level reading a reality for all students in Bexar County.

SAReads is a San Antonio-based non-profit collaboration dedicated to changing the lives of children in Bexar County by dramatically increasing literacy rates.

Current standardized testing results indicate that 10% of third graders enrolled in public schools in San Antonio are failing basic grade-level reading tests. This number doesn’t include the many struggling readers who are at-risk of failing.

A Key Part of the SA2020 Vision

Instituted by Mayor Julian Castro, SA2020 was a citywide “visioning” process that established key goals and objectives our community hopes to achieve by the year 2020. Below is a portion of that vision, laid out in the education section of the report:

“By 2020, San Antonio has orchestrated one of the greatest turnarounds in education in the United States. San Antonio provides access to quality education for all students no matter where they live in our city.”

SAReads played an integral part in establishing third-grade reading scores as a key indicator for SA2020’s education goals. The effort to increase 3rd grade reading scores is specifically included in the report with the goal of having 80% of students reading at the commended standard by the year 2020 (the present figure is 46%) and 95% demonstrating proficiency (the present figure is 91%).

One-On-One Reading Tutor Program

The One-on-One Tutoring program takes a targeted approach to achieving grade-level reading, starting as early as Kindergarten.  The tutoring program currently runs throughout the school year.  Tutors are trained and matched with two students.  Every week the tutor works one-on -one with each student for 30 minutes, following a skill-building curriculum developed by reading specialists.  Standardized assessments help tutors gauge their impact and the students’ levels of success.  To learn more about becoming an SAReads tutor, please click here.

Other SAReads Initiatives:

SAReads Book Drive & Awareness Campaign

SAReads partners with FirstMark Credit Union to collect books for distribution to needy students in our community. Studies have repeatedly shown that homes filled with the physical presence of books produce positive outcomes for children, including increased vocabulary and higher levels of educational attainment. To learn more about making a donation to the SAReads Book Bank click here.