Fair Oaks School is a K-5 school highly focused on its language arts program. The goal of the program is to make sure all third graders are reading at the third grade level when the school year is over. A Reading Recovery specialist and a Johns Hopkins University program have helped achieve a vast improvement. The school received the Golden Bell Award for this particular program.
Over 40 volunteers with the tutoring program plus six AmeriCorps tutors have contributed to this success. A central part of the program is 90 minutes of uninterrupted daily reading. Starting in first grade, children are grouped by reading level, allowing teachers to work with students all in similar reading levels. Teachers assess students every eight weeks to determine if additional support from tutors or families is needed. These students are all able to receive one-on-one training if necessary.