AARP Foundation Experience Corps is a volunteer-based tutoring program that connects older adults to their communities by engaging them in the intergenerational work of helping young students become better readers. Experience Corps volunteers receive extensive training, which prepares them to provide individual tutoring, small group work and, at times, classroom assistance alongside teachers.
The program provides older adult volunteers with an opportunity to put their wisdom to work, while at the same time addressing a major contributor to poverty: the inability of children to read at grade level by the end of third grade. Children who can’t read at grade level by fourth grade are four times more likely not to graduate from high school. Our Experience Corps Volunteers help implement a structured tutoring method that helps students become fluent readers by the end of third grade.
AARP Foundation Experience Corps has more than 2,300 highly trained volunteers working in 22 cities and serves over 30,000 students every year in high-need elementary schools.