about us
The Trenton Literacy Movement, Inc., was established in 2016 with the goal of identifying and applying educational technologies to improve reading outcomes for children in Trenton, NJ. Our mission is to ensure that all Trenton school children read at grade-level by 3rd grade.
"We believe children first learn to read and then read to learn; you measure what you treasure; and what you measure gets done." -- Edward Bullock, TTLM President
“Because they lack reading skills, Trenton’s youngest students are behind the learning eight ball and many may never catch up. The Trenton Literacy Movement, Inc., seeks to put our youngsters on track to a better and more rewarding life.”
-- Douglas Palmer, TTLM Chairman and former Mayor of Trenton
What we do
We work in partnership with schools, parents, the community and funders to:
- Support after-school remedial interventions for elementary students in all Trenton public schools.
- Galvanize partnerships between the greater Trenton community and Trenton public schools to end our local literacy crisis.
- We solicit donations from individuals, non-profits, foundations, corporations, and community and faith-based organizations to provide literacy instruction at no cost to students in Grades 1-3.
How We Do It: Our Strategy
Our program allows students to work independently at their own pace and in small groups with teacher support to develop fundamental reading skills in a structured, sequential manner. We focus on foundational skills with complex text and academic and domain-specific vocabulary to improve comprehension.
- TTLM's after-school programs allow students in grades 1-3 time for opportunities beyond the classroom to advance their reading skills.
- Our program is made up of a blended learning model consisting of teacher-assisted instruction along with computer-based reading tools.
- TTLM has the support of the Trenton Board of Education and its teachers. We also receive donations from individuals, non-profits, foundations, corporations, and community and faith-based organizations to enable the program to be free to students and their parents.
- TTLM is helping to bridge the digital divide by working with the Trenton Digital Initiative (TDI) to provide home computers to participating families.