Just a few days after the new year, more than 100 Americorps members sit in a room for an intensive, 50-hour training program to become literacy tutors. They’re shown several random symbols and given a sound to associate with each one. Then, they have to read them.

“It feels impossible,” says Hiren Mistry, a second-year tutor and University of Buffalo graduate. It’s the feeling many children have when they’re asked to sound out letters they simply don’t know. “When you know how to read, it’s easy to forget what it felt like trying to learn.”

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