A gift of $2,700 funds 1 year for the Renaissance Reading Program and Literacy and library books for Marian Girls.

On average, girls may come to Marian reading 1 - 2 years behind, but by the time they leave Marian, they catapult ahead of their local and national peers!

Marian evaluates its literacy program by measuring students' educational gains. At the middle school level, these gains are based on Renaissance Learning's Accelerated Reader and Renaissance STAR Reading tests.

Accelerated Reader is a computer program that assesses reading comprehension. It is utilized daily during Marian's Independent Reading period. Through Accelerated Reader, Marian Girls select a book of their choice within their reading level and then read the book independently. The program assigns a point value to each book based on its reading level and length. When a student finishes her book, she takes a test on the computer that measures her comprehension. Tests are also taken at the beginning of each quarter. Each Marian student chooses a goal each quarter and works hard to accomplish it.

Renaissance Star Reading is an online adaptive assessment program. Marian implements this test three times per year. Administrators use this tool to assess students' growth over time, assist in planning and help with differentiated instruction.

Volunteers come from all over St. Louis to read with our girls. We strive to have a library of books that reflect our students so they too can see themselves in the world of books. This is no small task. We are constantly striving to replenish our library with heroines, authors, and characters that are representative of our student population and experiences. Many of our students are ferocious readers - don't you think that's amazing?! You can light her way to literacy!