Literacy First

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Literacy First

Literacy First is an early childhood literacy tutoring program from the Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin.
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We teach young children how to read, equipping them to excel in life and realize their dreams. Keep up with Literacy First at literacyfirst.org

06/01/2026

Literacy First staff recently joined our collaborators at Georgetown ISD for an end-of-year celebration. They met with tutors, district staff and leaders who have made the program possible over the past year and a half. Together, they recognized the paraprofessional tutors for their hard work and celebrated the positive student outcomes achieved through Literacy First tutoring this school year.

05/30/2026

The school year has officially come to a close and we’re excited to celebrate another year of student progress in reading! Literacy First tutors supported over 2,000 students at 52 schools this year. Here are a few of our favorite moments from the school year.

05/28/2026

Last week our 31st cohort of AmeriCorps Volunteers gathered to celebrate the end of the service year. Our staff shared gratitude for their service and celebrated the positive impact they had on the students they worked with this year.

Tutors played board games, colored, and wrote down words of encouragement for future Volunteers. They ended the day by meeting one last time as a group with their coaches and reflecting on their experiences in the program.

Thank you to all our AmeriCorps Volunteers for your service!

05/23/2026

Join our team at the Charles A. Dana Center as the Associate Director of Evidence, Impact, and Learning—design and lead high-quality evaluations, manage data systems, and support continuous improvement in math, science, and early learning programs. Apply now: https://www.utdanacenter.org/who-we-are/work-with-us

05/22/2026

Today is officially the last day of the service year for our AmeriCorps Volunteers! 🎉 Thank you to all of our AmeriCorps tutors who dedicated their time and skills to supporting students and improving education outcomes in our Central Texas community.

Our team looks forward to welcoming many of our Volunteers back in September for another year of service. For those moving on to new adventures, we wish you the best of luck. Congratulations to all on completing your service!

AmeriCorps Central Texas

05/19/2026

Please join us in congratulating Literacy First tutor alum Skylar Joseph for being recognized as an Austin ISD Teacher of Promise! This award acknowledges Skylar’s exceptional work and potential as a first-year teacher. Skylar shared how her time as an AmeriCorps Volunteer tutor influenced her path to become an educator. She said:

“Literacy First truly shaped the teacher I am today. Through the AmeriCorps Segal Education Award, I was able to fund my education degree while working full-time as a literacy tutor in the program. Those two years gave me hands-on experience teaching foundational reading skills and showed me the power of structured, explicit literacy instruction.”

“When I began applying for teaching jobs, I specifically sought out kindergarten and first grade because I felt confident in my ability to teach students how to read. I fell in love with a school that due to leveling, was going to have a combined kindergarten/first grade classroom. My principal told me later it was due to my Literacy First experience that she knew I was the teacher for the job!”

“My Literacy First experience didn’t just prepare me to teach—it gave me the confidence and instructional foundation to lead a reading-focused classroom successfully from day one.”

Congratulations, Skylar! We are thrilled to hear you are using the skills you practiced as a tutor every day in your classroom. Thank you for your AmeriCorps service and for continuing to serve your community as a dedicated educator!

05/08/2026

Today we’re spotlighting Erin, an English Literacy Tutor, team leader, and second-year AmeriCorps Volunteer. Erin recently decided to return for a third year and will serve as a Capacity Building Member beginning in September.

We asked Erin what inspired her to serve a third year with Literacy First and she said, “I have met so many welcoming people, from program and school staff to my coworkers and the kids I worked with, and I wanted to continue to grow these connections.” When she is finished with her service years, she hopes to get an alternative teaching certification through The University of Texas at Austin’s Longhorn in Residence program.

Erin enjoys working with her students and the balance and variety the role provides. She mentioned, “this is the healthiest job I have ever had. We get up at least every 30 minutes, sometimes we stretch with the kids when they need a brain break, I'm not staring at my computer for hours straight, and it is very easy to maintain a work-life separation.”

Thank you for your service, Erin. We look forward to welcoming you back again next year!

05/06/2026

Our AmeriCorps Recruitment & Outreach Coordinator, Leah, recently led a session at America's Service Commissions' National Service Training in Dallas! Leah’s workshop focused on tips for recruiting AmeriCorps Volunteers in uncertain times.

As our recruiter, Leah ensures that we have high-quality tutors to serve in our schools each year. She has also contributed to our successful member retention—about half of our tutors for the 2026–2027 school year are returning for their second, third, or fourth year with the program.

If you missed the session, here are a few of Leah’s tips for success:
🤝 Build trust with your prospective Volunteer candidates
🔎 Practice transparency
🎯 Focus on mission-driven messaging

To our AmeriCorps program colleagues, what are some challenges you face in recruitment and how do you address them?

AmeriCorps Central Texas

05/04/2026

Thank you for your generosity to Literacy First during 40 for Forty! Your support helps us give more students a strong foundation in reading. We're so grateful to our longhorn community. 🧡🤘

05/01/2026

We recently visited our collaborators at Elgin TX Independent School District to see how they are using the Literacy First curricula in small group intervention settings. Our staff are serving as consultants to Elgin ISD this year to provide feedback on small group structure and implementation. This is a pilot initiative that we are excited to explore more in different contexts.

In Elgin, many of the paraprofessional tutors have a few years of experience teaching our curriculum. They are now leveraging what they learned while tutoring students one-to-one to support multiple learners at once. More to come on the results of this pilot once we collect and analyze end-of-year data.

Address

3925 West Braker Lane
Austin, TX
78759

Website

http://www.literacyfirst.org/

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