For Josh Goldman, alum of the George Warren Brown School of Social Work, community service is more than a hobby—it’s a passion.
Goldman is the founder of “Reading with Success,” a program affiliated with ACCESS Academies in St. Louis, that affords disadvantaged fourth- and fifth-graders the opportunity to improve their reading skills and bring home free books.
ACCESS Academies, or Academies Creating Challenging Education for St. Louis Students, is a non-profit corporation that strives to ensure that socially and economically disadvantaged students receive top-quality, values-based education, regardless of their race, ethnicity or religious affiliation.
ACCESS supports the NativityMiguel model of education, which is a national network of faith-based middle schools that attempts to deliver a uniquely effective education to students. There are about 65 NativityMiguel middle schools with a total of 4,200 students in the country.
“The ultimate goal is to get inner city kids to go to top college prep schools,” Goldman said.
The program’s classes are broken down into groups of 15 students taught by a lead teacher, specialist and volunteers.
According to Goldman, parental involvement in the students’ success is crucial.
“Way too often, parents are only negatively involved in their children’s education,” he said. “If parents see their kids shine, this will only lead to great things at home, and learning will be encouraged outside the classroom.”
To promote constructive and helpful parental involvement, Goldman holds family nights twice each year to celebrate the successes of his students. At the last family night, around 110 people attended.
Another important aspect of Goldman’s program is strict attendance and behavior policies. He said that cooperation and devotion from the students are essential for success.
The program has shown tremendous growth since its creation in 2004. What began as a project for Goldman as a student at the University has become a lifelong passion.
“When I was a student, I became very interested in researching the phenomenon of the ‘Fourth Grade Slump,’” he said.
According to Goldman, the “Fourth Grade Slump” applies especially to African American students and refers to both academic and social deceleration.
“I realized it was essential to look at the social factors behind it,” Goldman said. “I began to look closely at why it happened, constructed methods of intervention and ultimately strived to find a way to prevent it.”
“Reading With Success” started at the local Adams Elementary School when the Brown School held a small summer English program there.
“It really was the ideal situation,” Goldman said. “I had the opportunity to create the ideal class environment. I picked the curriculum, the teachers, set up the classrooms and created an administrative structure.”
By 2006, the program consisted of two groups of 12 students and resembled the current structure of Goldman’s “Reading With Success” program.
Goldman administers a pre- and post-test to monitor success. He claims there has always been an average six-month gain among his students.
“Even at the beginning [of ‘Reading With Success’], I saw great promise,” Goldman said. “Test scores had risen significantly.”
When Goldman graduated in 2006 with a Master of Social Work, he already had years of experience in education, as he attended Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education, and taught at schools in Nashville and St. Louis.
“I loved teaching, but realized I didn’t want to be a teacher forever so I came to Brown,” Goldman said. “I constantly networked throughout St. Louis and talked to anyone and everyone about how I could make my dream a reality.”
Even though ACCESS is faith-based, Goldman says many teachers and students are not of the faith of their respective schools.
While ACCESS focuses on sixth, seventh and eighth grade, Goldman works with fourth and fifth grade students.
“I work with the [students] that struggle the most with reading so that they are ready for the NativityMiguel program by sixth grade,” Goldman said. “ACCESS gets kids from all across the St. Louis community to work with me. I am essentially a recruitment tool for these schools.”
Goldman also runs a summer program at City Academy in St. Louis. Although he focuses on reading during the academic school year, Goldman’s summer program involves reading, writing, mathematics, art and physical education.
Goldman’s ultimate goal is to open his own school in the future. He plans to use his connection to ACCESS Academies to obtain the best teachers possible. For now, Goldman is looking for more volunteers to bring the student to teacher ratio down to two to one.
“In order to be a teacher at this school, you must spend a year at ACCESS,” Goldman said. “This way, we weed out ineffective teachers. I really believe in the ACCESS method and plan to incorporate them in my school.”
To learn more about volunteering for “Reading with Success,” e-mail Goldman at goldmanj@accessacademies.org.
