Sit Stay Read began as "a community outreach program" in Chicago at the Call of the Wild School for Dogs. In early 2003, Mary Ellen Schneider realized that her dog Shandy was able to sit and read with kids extremely well, capturing their attention and allowing the kids to comprehend the reading material.
Their main mission is to aid children in furthering their literacy skills by providing a curriculum immersed with certified dogs and dedicated volunteers.
Sit Stay Read offers different programs at no cost opportunities for some partner schools and parents. They partner with schools where "third graders score below the national average in reading and where the school is serving an economically fragile community."
“SitStayRead allows students to feel special. It allows them to forget, if only for a hour, the realities outside their classroom" Erica Rodriguez, a teacher, says.
In 2013, Sit Stay Read partnered with Loyola University of Chicago's Department of School Psychology. The two worked to measure reading fluency and comprehension in students. Their study found that "students in SitStayRead developed fluency at a rate 47.8% greater than their non-participating peers."
The work Sit Stay Read is doing in the community is incredibly influential and essential to the growth of children's love for reading and comprehension skills in the long run.
"Children give up on learning because society and family expect the worst. In walk the dogs and the insurmountable obstacles disappear" says volunteer Kara Severson.
Link to their program: https://www.sitstayread.org/
Link to support them: https://www.sitstayread.org/donate
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