WITS History

WITSInside WITS

wits history

history

Working in the Schools (WITS) began in a single classroom in 1991 when two civic leaders, Joanne Alter and Marion Stone, visited a friend who taught at Byrd Academy. When asked what would benefit her classroom the most, the teacher requested that Joanne and Marion read one-on-one with her students. The Alter-Stone duo soon began recruiting more volunteers from their wide social networks throughout Chicago, intent on deepening their impact on Chicago schools. Synchronously, Chicago librarian Rochelle Lee was inspiring generations of students and parents through her passion for reading. She inspired a namesake program, the Rochelle Lee Teacher Award, which provides teachers with the training and resources needed to inspire a love of reading in students. These three change agents – Alter, Stone, and Lee – filled an urgent need for community supported youth literacy programs by promoting a love of reading and learning in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) system. They laid the foundation for the WITS we know and love today: empowering students through mentorship and providing teachers with crucial training and resources. In 2015, these two programs combined under the WITS umbrella to create a holistic approach to literacy in the classroom, setting students on a trajectory for success by building critical literacy skills and developing positive self-identity through teacher-led professional development and volunteer-powered mentorship programs.