About 100 volunteers were honored at a luncheon May 6 hosted by the Volunteer Center of Sonoma County to celebrate a slew of programs which put volunteers in classrooms across the county.

Jonathan Coe, president and CEO of the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce delivered a talk which addressed the value of education and the role it plays in recruiting employers and businesses to the area, according to organizers.

Among the programs and volunteers honored were those associated with the inaugural year of Schools of Hope – a program that linked tutors with first graders who are below grade level in reading. For 30 minutes a week, tutors worked with the same first grader throughout the year.

Six different school districts participated this year and the Volunteer Center hopes to expand the program if enough volunteers commit to a full year of service for 2011-12.

The idea is to give students an extra boost so that by the time they reach third grade they will have reached proficiency. The hope is also to catch students before academic frustration sets in.

Fewer than half of Sonoma County’s third graders read at proficient or advanced levels. The end of the third grade is key because in fourth grade students are expected to read for content and comprehension, not simply the act itself, educators said.

The goals is to increase reading proficiency among Sonoma County’s third graders  from 46 to 75 percent in five years, according to organizers of the program.

Tutors are asked to commit to one hour a week (30 minutes with the student, 30 minutes of transportation time) for the entire school year. Participating schools will work with tutors’ schedules to find a regular time that works for both the school and the tutor.

The schools that participated this year were: RL Stevens, Yulupa, Taylor Mountain, Roseland, Spring Creek and Brook Hill.

Interested? Call Barbara Fisher at the Volunteer Center at 573-3399 X 122.

Tutors are required to go through a two-hour training and work with students begins immediately.

To read the full story about the Schools of Hope program and how it works, click here: http://bit.ly/k4tYsR