The city of Birmingham, in collaboration with the city’s Department of Youth Services, is seeking out 200 teachers and educators to participate in Page Pals: SOS, an expansion of its Page Pals third-grade reading program.
Page Pals: SOS is an innovative intervention program, where educators will work on reading skills with third grade students for one hour every school day for four weeks. Educators, specifically retired teachers or elementary school teachers with spare time, are being sought out to apply for the program to tutor the students.
“We say both retired teachers and teachers with flexible schedules, and preferably teachers who have a background in English or language arts. Ideally, teachers who have a background in elementary education because it is a special skill set that's required to really move the needle with some of these young people,” said Cedric Sparks, Chief of Staff for the City of Birmingham.
The original Page Pals program was launched in 2023 and was created to encourage more reading among the city’s third graders. The program later evolved into Page Pals 2.0 where volunteers, including Sparks and Mayor Randall Woodfin’s appointed staff, would go in and work directly with students.
Sparks said the city created Page Pals: SOS because volunteers discovered that the students could better benefit from educators to increase their reading abilities.
“What we learned is that there were many needs that the young people had that exceeded the ability of just a volunteer, [and] that there was a specific skill set that was needed to really address how these people get over that hurdle,” Sparks explained.
Organizers also said they believe that experienced educators could help better identify specific challenges kids might be facing that is effecting their learning.
“They [teachers] can recognize challenges and hurdles that many of the young people may face, whether they have some mental health challenges, or in depth challenges, issues that may affect them at home, that before you can even start dealing with their inability to read, you have to be able to recognize and address those hurdles,” Sparks said.
Page Pals: SOS will be taking place in participating Birmingham City Schools from now through March 22.
Teachers who apply and participate in the program will receive a one-time stipend of $500 for their commitment.
Applications can be emailed to pagepalsteacher@birminghamal.gov.
More information on the program can be found here.
