Branching out through literacy
At Hickory City Schools, we know that strong readers become confident learners. Literacy is the foundation that enables our students to access every subject, discover new interests, and prepare for the opportunities ahead.
This month, I am proud to recognize the Patrick Beaver Learning Resource Center as our October Branching Out: Community Partner Spotlight and celebrate a partnership that brings additional people, expertise, and resources into our schools to support our students and educators.
About our partner
The Patrick Beaver Learning Resource Center has a clear purpose: to empower striving readers, educate their parents, and equip their teachers. Their work supports children facing a variety of barriers to reading success, including dyslexia and ADHD as well as challenges related to poverty or language. The organization believes every child deserves the opportunity to read with confidence and that effective literacy instruction should be grounded in the science of reading.
People are also reading…
That mission aligns closely with our commitment at Hickory City Schools to give every student the strong literacy foundation needed for success in school and beyond.
Growing together
One of the most meaningful ways the Patrick Beaver Learning Resource Center supports our students is through the Augustine Literacy Project.
The program trains, coaches, and supports community volunteers who provide free, one-on-one literacy tutoring to struggling readers from low-income families during the school day in local public schools. Volunteers do not need an education background; Patrick Beaver provides the training and ongoing support they need to work effectively with students.
For Hickory City Schools, that means caring community members are giving their time to sit beside our students, help them strengthen their reading skills, encourage them when learning is difficult, and celebrate their progress.
That individual attention is a wonderful extension of the literacy instruction already happening in our classrooms.
Investing in our educators
Our partnership with Patrick Beaver also reaches beyond direct student support.
Each summer, the organization sponsors Orton-Gillingham Classroom Educator Training for K–3 teachers from the three public school systems in Catawba County. The weeklong training prepares educators to use the Orton-Gillingham approach with small groups of students. The support doesn't end when the training does—trainers continue to coach and support participating teachers throughout the following school year.
That investment in educators has the potential to reach far beyond a single child. When teachers gain additional knowledge and strategies for helping striving readers, they carry those skills back into their classrooms and can use them with students year after year.
The impact
Patrick Beaver's work demonstrates what can happen when a community rallies around literacy.
More than 30 Augustine Literacy Project volunteers currently volunteer each week to help children become stronger readers. Patrick Beaver also operates its Reading Success Tutoring Center, which provides individualized instruction in phonics, fluency, and comprehension for eligible Catawba County children ages 5–14 who are reading below grade level. The organization also provides resources and support to parents of children with dyslexia and other learning differences.
Together, these efforts create layers of support around children: trained teachers in the classroom, dedicated volunteers working one-on-one with students, and resources to help families support reading at home.
Why this partnership matters
Our theme this year is Branching Out, and partnerships like this remind us that some of our strongest branches grow when schools and communities work together toward a shared goal.
Every volunteer who spends time reading with a child, every educator who strengthens their literacy instruction, and every family that gains resources to support a striving reader contributes to something much bigger: helping children develop the skills and confidence they need for their futures.
We are incredibly fortunate to have the Patrick Beaver Learning Resource Center working alongside Hickory City Schools in that effort.
Get involved
The Patrick Beaver Learning Resource Center welcomes community members who want to help children become successful readers. Through the Augustine Literacy Project, volunteers receive the training and support needed to provide one-on-one literacy tutoring, and a background in education is not required.
Families looking for additional reading support can also learn more about the Reading Success Tutoring Center, which serves eligible children ages 5–14 in Catawba County and offers tutoring on a sliding fee scale based on household income.
To learn more about tutoring, volunteering, parent resources, or other programs, visit Patrick Beaver Learning Resource Center.
Thank you
On behalf of Hickory City Schools, thank you to the staff, volunteers, trainers, supporters, and community members who make the Patrick Beaver Learning Resource Center's work possible.
Thank you for investing in our readers, supporting our educators, and believing in the power of literacy to change a child's future.
We are proud to be Branching Out Through Literacy with you.
Superintendent
