Welcome to “It Takes a Village” Project

Operated by Elon’s Center for Access and Success, the It Takes a Village Project is a free pre-K through 5th grade program for families, offering tutoring, specialized learning services, and a two-week summer camp for students in Title I schools within the Alamance-Burlington School System (ABSS).

In partnership with The Oak Foundation, Elon University, ABSS educators, and volunteers, the program supports struggling students to boost academic performance. It emphasizes reading and writing, and has expanded to include math, science, music, and more. Key focus areas include academic outcomes, quality instruction, attendance, parental involvement, and enrichment.

For many families, we have become an indispensable resource and the springboard to education opportunities for their children. We’re seeing the benefits of our work as ABSS students graduate from the Project to Elon Academy and the Odyssey Program. Since launch, over 9,000 students have taken part, with interest continuing to grow.

There’s no more important gift that we give to our children than an education. That education changes their life forever and their children’s lives. And I truly believe that if you can read and do mathematics, you can be anything.  It truly is a privilege to witness the learning that’s impacting the lives of these young students as they begin to realize their potential. It’s profound to see those moments when things start to click and when children can read the words, do the math program and you see a door start to open and the future start to unfold. Elon President Connie Ledoux Book.

Program Overview

The Project recognized from the outset that each of our partners is an equal member contributing to the wholeness of the project. To that end, the Project is designed to:

  • Emphasize the function institutions of higher education must undertake in helping to support K-5 public school partners.
  • Focus on the importance of community and the role universities can play in bridging the gap between institutions of higher learning and entities such as the local public libraries.
  • Involve the children’s public school teachers and parents as vital stakeholders in the tutoring process. Struggling students’ classroom teachers are included to ensure instructional congruence between the tutoring and the tutees’ classroom instruction.
  • Offer supervising teachers a sense of trust, independence, and respect that encourages teachers to be creative in their lesson planning with university tutors, and to be student-centered in their lesson planning and delivery.