DECATUR - Durfee Magnet School already has had success with its after-school tutoring program.

Millikin University associate professor Jim Meyer has worked with Durfee teacher Martha Henderson on other projects, and when he heard about a grant that would help support Durfee's after-school activities, he called her.

"She had ideas about needs they had and things they could do if they had more money," Meyer said. "One of the things is, the grant they have for the tutoring program provides for teachers, but no separate budget for supplies."

The grant, from the Phi Kappa Phi national honor society, will include money for those supplies - workbooks, little prizes for the children, books to give families to take home and keep.

It will also provide training for teachers to update their knowledge about how to strengthen the literacy skills of struggling readers, Meyer said. Often, novels, stories and poems are what teachers are comfortable with, but a struggling reader might have difficulty keeping up with character development and extended narratives.

The answer is informational books - nonfiction.

"A lot of the reading of a nonfiction book requires different kinds of skills," Meyer said, "learning how to use an index, work with illustrations, learning how to skim, and research has shown that for struggling readers, nonfiction texts can be really great."

Millikin students will provide some of the volunteer tutoring, and the program will include increased use of audiovisual materials to help children gain the background knowledge and vocabulary they'll need. Good readers often have a greater wealth of experience and vocabulary to draw on, which helps make them good readers, while struggling readers also struggle with a lack of context. If they're reading about a farm and have never seen one and can't picture it, the audiovisual materials will fill that gap, Meyer said.

Principal Stephanie Strang said she's looking forward to the improved after-school program.

"We're excited any time something extra comes our way," she said. "We have an after-school program funded through Project Success, and sometimes the grade levels (that are funded) vary, so this might also help in that aspect, if Project Success can only cover certain grade levels."

Valerie Wells can be reached at vwells@herald-review.com or 421-7982.