The Vermont State Colleges, UVM and various literacy and volunteer organizations have formed a partnership to help expand and refine current America Reads efforts in Vermont and, as a result, created the Storybook Tutor position.

Storybook Tutors work one-on-one with children in kindergarten or first grade who are in need of additional reading practice. The children are selected by the classroom teacher and are the ones who, ideally, will benefit from such individual attention and extra support. Storybook Tutors follow specific lesson plans that align with Vermont's Standards and developmental reading assessment, and they work extensively with the classroom teacher of the child being tutored.

In general, Storybook Tutors meet with kindergarten and first grade students three times a week for 20-30 minutes each session. Each session consists of three components: (1) child reads a familiar book (2) Storybook Tutor reads a new book (3) child does a retelling (using puppets, storybook maps or by using other activities/materials) of the new story. Storybook Tutors must commit to the project from the end of October, 1998, through spring of 1999. Storybook Tutors must attend a general training session in October, a mid project evaluation session in December, and a second evaluation session in March.