Everybody Wins!
What is the Everybody Wins! program?
Everybody Wins! is a lunchtime literacy and mentoring program that pairs elementary school students with volunteers from local companies and other community organizations to share lunch, conversation, and good books. Founded in Pittsburgh in 2002 by the Junior League of Pittsburgh and administered by Beginning with Books, Everybody Wins! is based on a national model that recognizes the many benefits of reading aloud to children one-on-one.
How does it work?
On the same day each week, volunteers spend their lunch breaks reading one-on-one with a student at a nearby elementary school.
Volunteers commit to Power Lunch and their student for one year and are encouraged to continue the mentoring relationship throughout his/her elementary years. In order to establish consistency, but still allow schedule flexibility, many volunteers partner with a co-worker to read with their shared student on alternate weeks. Volunteers are recruited from businesses, universities, community organizations, faith-based institutions, and government agencies.
What are the benefits?
In two independent evaluations, one under the auspices of the US Department of Education and the other by Loyola University of Chicago, the program emerged as one of very few to effectively show an impact upon low-income students in reading comprehension, motivation and achievement, as well as overall academic performance, classroom behavior, self-confidence and social skills.
Results include:
- More than twice as many EW! students improved their academic performance compared to control group students.
- By the program's conclusion, 55% of EW! often or always enjoyed reading, well above the 31% of non-participating students.
- 35% of EW! students improved or very much improved their attention span.
- 94% of EW! teachers and volunteers reported being satisfied or very satisfied with the program.
In addition, EVERYBODY WINS! evaluation data is compiled and analyzed annually. These studies prove that when adult mentors read once a week, one-on-one with a student, those children improve across multiple reading and academic related behaviors. Recent results include:
- 64% of all EW! students scored high enough on state standardized tests to be immediately promoted to the next grade, nearly twice as many as the 38% of non-participating students.
- More than 87% of EW! students improved their reading comprehension.
- 94% of treatment students improved their vocabulary versus only 84% of control students.
- More than 5 times as many EW! students improved their classroom behavior versus the control group.