Minneapolis’ Andersen United school has a bottom-up effort to reach parents to teach them how to help build their students’ reading skills at home. From reading road signs and recipes together to talking about plots and characters in books. Students bring home a half hour of reading each night and then discuss it with their parents.

Seventy-six percent of participating sixth-graders made greater-than-anticipated gains in reading proficiency last year, when half of the sixth grade’s 93 students got the extra help.

Supporters of the reading-boosting program at the heavily Latino school are seeking the money to expand from a homegrown effort dependent on extra commitment by teachers to a district-supported pilot for Andersen’s grades five through eight.

Read more about the program here: http://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/208429411.html?page=1&c=y