Pardon the overused phrase but “we couldn’t have done it without AmeriCorps, thank you – all of you – for your role in making our school year and/or event a success” is a phrase commonly repeated year after year from school administrators, faculty and community leaders.  The Butler County Board of Education’s AmeriCorps Instructional Support Team (AIST) is an unique program and was first recognized by Harris Wofford, Chief Executive Officer,  Corporation for National Service , who gave testimony before the Senate Committee on Appropriations FY1999 stating our goal to provide tutoring and other academic enrichment services to 300 rural students in grades K-3 who were under-challenged had shown improvement in attendance among 17% of the students served; at least one letter grade of improvement in an academic subject among 62% of the children served; and improvements in behavior/conduct grades among 37% of the students served.

Over the years, performance measurement goals have changed adjusting to the school district needs. AmeriCorps members currently mentor and tutor 500 rural students from preschool through 8^th grade.

To date 290 AmeriCorps members have served as “the extra hand” serving over 433,416 service hours providing instructional assistance (mostly one-on-one), enrichment and recreational activities for over 3,300 rural under-challenged children and youth. This program reaches out to financially strained and under-performing schools in a ruralAlabamaschool district. A record of 500 non-AmeriCorps community volunteers recruited and maintained by AmeriCorps members have logged over 26,000 service hours in support of schools and community activities has encouraged a habit of volunteerism inButlerCounty.

AIST success has been recognized by Innovations in Civic Participation as one of the most 51 innovative AmeriCorps programs in theUnited States(2005).  Bob Riley, former Alabama Governor praised AIST specifically for their ongoing efforts to further the mission of service to Butler County Public School students during the Riley Administration (2002-2010). The Alabama Community Service Education Association honored AIST for their exemplary service toward promoting community education inButlerCounty.  The City ofGreenville’s Mayor, Dexter McLendon said it best, “when AmeriCorps is involved your project is a success”.  This statement once again was proven true when Hurricane Katrina hit, our community and AmeriCorps opened their hearts to evacuees. Many of our evacuees contacted CNN and ABC who sent reporters down to verify the generosity of the people inButler County,Alabama.

ButlerCountySchool Districtaccepted stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to place 10 additional members exclusively in theGreenvilleMiddle School. Because of that effort scientific data proved 100 students had 85% improvement in their reading and math scores. AmeriCorps has made significant progress in the preschool program Bright Beginnings which is a national model Pre-K program according to the Alabama State Office of School Readiness.

InButlerCounty, we continue to make progress to fulfill our promise of “success for all” to become a reality rather than a slogan. AmeriCorps Instructional Support Team is committed to do “whatever it takes” to help our children learn.