Jennifer Ruth

Ruth's program idea, "Take Home Teacher", is designed to help fill the skill gap for parents who want to supplement their child's learning by providing them with parent-friendly learning materials they can use at home. Available in English and Spanish for bilingual students, these specialized kits on a variety of subject areas will outline specific, targeted activities to address students' academic needs. A kindergarten readiness kit will be given to each parent as their child enrolls in school. First and fifth graders will receive kits that correlate with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills requirements for the state based on their specific reading needs. For example, the 'Comprehension Kit' will include main idea matching, sequence sorting and context clue games while the 'Fluency Kit' will include poems, stories with timers, a CD of fluency phrases and tape recorders to monitor progress. According to Ruth, this kind of program can maximize the home-school connection and strategically support teachers' efforts through ongoing academic reinforcement at home. Ruth lives in Plano.