ABOUT US

What is Read Aloud America?

Founded in Hawaii in 1995 by Jed Gaines, Read Aloud America is a nonprofit 501(C)3 organization that promotes literacy, encourages a love of reading in adults and children, and increases children's prospects for success in school and life.

RAP is an innovative family program that brings parents and children together for six sessions during one school semester and motivates them to read. The program is conducted at host schools which provide meeting space, volunteers, and logistical support. The host schools pay a small fee, and the majority of RAP expenses are funded The Department of Human Services with smaller grants and contributions from local businesses and individual supporters.

Click here for the January 2007 RAP Notes Newsletter (pdf)

What are Read Aloud presentations?

Jed Gaines and his team conduct Read Aloud America presentations at public and private schools and various community functions. The presentations, open to all, are designed to motivate individuals to read and read aloud to children - in the classroom and at home - on a regular basis. The school presentation package offers interactive classroom time with teachers and their students.

Click here to read the front page article in the Honolulu Star Bulletin 11/28/04

Click here to see an article about Read Aloud America in the Honolulu Advertiser, October 5, 2004, Island Life section.

Governor Linda Lingle speaks to a group of parents and children at a RAP Session.

What is RAP: The Read Aloud Program?

This unique family literacy program draws parents and children together for six sessions every other week in the early evening to share good books. Its goals are to reach families and stimulate their interest in reading, decrease television viewing, increase family time spent in reading activities, and connect the values of good books to everyday life. Families who participate in RAP build Family Reading Handbooks and receive free books, reading lists, and dinners.

How does RAP support families?

The 1985 Commission on Reading's report, Becoming a Nation of Readers, concluded, "The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children." RAP provides reading experiences for adults and children and suggests how to read aloud and select appropriate books. Adults and older student volunteers serve as readers and positive role models. Through purposeful, nurturing interactions, RAP builds reading confidence in children and adults.

Why do these programs work?

1. Children and adults experience the joy of reading for pleasure, often for the first time, and read more on their own. Reading with RAP volunteers builds self-confidence and motivates program participants to spend more time with books.

2. Parents learn the importance of reading with their children to help them become better readers.

3. Children learn that books are exciting and stories relate to everyday life.

4. Volunteers enjoy meaningful, rewarding experiences and have the satisfaction of knowing they are making a positive impact on children's lives.

5. Teachers have new resources to help their students become more interested in reading and receptive to learning.

6. Companies who support Read Aloud America strengthen their customer base and enrich their local communities.

How can I help?

Read Aloud America relies on contributions of time and money from individuals, companies, and foundations. To find out how you can get involved, or how your organization can help, please call (808) 531-1985, fax (808) 593-1984 or email: read@readaloudamerica.org.

Jim Trelease
Springfield, MA 01118-1239
website: www.trelease-on-reading.com

March 1, 2002

To whom it may concern:

If America truly expects to improve student achievement, then it must face the start reality of the calendar and clock - that is, each year a child is in school for 900 hours and outside school for 7,800 hours.

By improving the curriculum of the home, the chances of improving the child's school performance are six times greater than if we change just the classroom. How families spend that 7,800 hours can make as big a difference as the difference between trips to the library and trips to the mall. Read Aloud America has parents reading to their children more and watching less television. Now there is a curriculum change!

For more than a decade, Jed Gaines' Read Aloud America has been waging that good fight in the state of Hawaii, reaching out to parents and showing them the simple but effective behaviors they can use to change their child's reading attitudes and skills. This helps not only the child, but also the parent's self esteem and attitudes toward education.

Because Jed Gaines is not part of the standard school faculty, parent see him as non-threatening. Add to that formula the fact that Gaines is a parent himself and long has practiced what he preaches, the result is a bond of trust between himself and the parent audience.

If there is a "traffic jam" on the road to school improvement it's been at the "bridge" between home and school. Too often a school's best intentions are undone by poor communication between educators and parents. It may not even be the school's fault. the mistrust or discomfort that may have started back when the parent was a student sometimes persists into adulthood and parenthood.

Anything that can be done to change that, to convince home and school to work together in behalf of the child is a boon for the community, the state, and the nation. The work of community volunteers in Gaines' Read Aloud Program (RAP) as they visit classrooms and schools to read aloud with children is a huge step in the right direction in lowering the barriers between home and school. Children seeing someone other than a "teacher" in the act of reading begin to think of reading as more than a subject on the report card. And if we think of those students as not just today's children but also tomorrow's parents, then the real dynamic can be seen.

By changing attitudes about reading from negative to positive, programs like Read Aloud America take a giant step toward changing the future of child, family and community.

Sincerely,

Jim Trelease

Read Aloud America Board of Directors

Jed Gaines, Founder and President
Charman Akina, M.D.
Lyla Berg
James R. Harstad
Natalie Mun-Takata
Jim Trelease

RAA Support:

Larry L. Myers, Legal Counsel
Allen Arakaki, CPA

RAA STAFF:

Executive Director: Patti Cronin

Marketing &
Training Director: Jed Gaines

Program Director: Natalie Hayek

Site Coordinator: Michele Tong

Office Manager: Tram Dinh

E-mail us: read@readaloudamerica.org