 For students that might be falling behind in their reading skills, AmeriCorps is there to help. The program at North Home School helps target improve and monitor those who might not qualify for more advanced help. Malmire brings us this week's Golden Apple from North Home. During Kim Linder's second grade class, she's carefully paying attention to her students. Characters, if there's any problems, we need a solution for that. If the students are behind by one grade level in reading scores, they would undergo Title I federal help. If they're behind by two grade levels, they would go to special ed. Reading Corps fills that gap of the kids that are in that bubble. She's talking about the bubble between falling critically behind and just needing an extra boost. When she notices this happening, she consults with Linda Ferdig. Sometimes it's where they don't stop at the end of the sentence with the periods. Generally it's so that they start reading at a faster pace. For 20 minutes each day, she takes the students she works with out of class for one-on-one sessions using different kinds of interventions. This might take the form of duet reading, or repetitive reading, all depending on what she decides to use with the help of Kim, who sees it firsthand in the classroom. Along with my coach, we figure out which would be best for them, and that's what we work on daily. And then once a week, I progress monitor them. She grasps out the weekly results to see their progress over time. Once she finds out that they're no longer in that bubble, she benchmarks them, only testing them again quarterly to make sure they aren't slipping again. And if they're not up to par, then they will keep them again until they get up to that standard that they need to be. Principal Judd Wheatley says this is all about early intervention, critical for students to build on. He's been so impressed with the work that he's considering math core through the organization for his middle school students. They had yet to see one instance where it hasn't been beneficial for the students. And if we can offer our children those supplemental pieces on top of their normal everyday education, why not do it for the kids? The students will age out in third grade, and if they need extra support after that time, they'll have specific interventions. In North Ohm, I'm Mal Meyer, Lakeland News. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.