May 29, 2008

LAWRENCE, Kan. -

Kansas football student-athlete Darrell Stuckey joined Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius and others Wednesday as The University of Kansas received a $700,000 donation from the Wal-Mart Foundation to develop a tutoring curriculum to be implemented nationwide at Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

The donation was announced at an event at the Wal-Mart Store at 3300 Iowa Street in Lawrence. Participants in the announcement included Sebelius; Stuckey, a Boys and Girls Clubs volunteer; Kelvin Lynch, Wal-Mart regional general manager; Jenny Lewis, Boys and Girls Clubs regional director of development; Kathleen McCluskey-Fawcett, KU senior vice provost for academic affairs; Don Deshler, director of the Center for Research on Learning and the Gene A. Budig Professor of Special Education; and members of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Lawrence.

"Since I've been at KU, I have volunteered with the Boys and Girls Club back in my hometown of Kansas City," Stuckey said. "I've experienced up close and personal the positive impact a Club can make in a young child's life.  This grant will help develop programs that children at Boys and Girls Clubs across the country will benefit from for many years to come."

It marks the largest donation the Wal-Mart Foundation has given within the state of Kansas.

"The generosity of the Wal-Mart Foundation will allow important work by KU researchers to ensure generations of children get the help they need to succeed in school and beyond," said KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway.

KU's Center for Research on Learning will use the money to help Boys and Girls Clubs' staff and volunteers adopt a new model of tutoring that helps students complete homework assignments and build literacy skills. The project will build upon the Boys and Girls Clubs' proven tutorial program, "Power Hour."

"We are excited by this opportunity to extend the success we have had working with struggling adolescent learners to support the efforts of Boys and Girls Clubs throughout the country," Deshler said. "High-quality after-school programs, such as `Power Hour,' are critical to bridging the gap between students' academic skills and the expectations they face in the classroom."

"We are honored to make this donation to the University of Kansas to support Boys and Girls Clubs of America's free, after-school reading and tutoring programs in more than 4,000 communities across America," said Lynch. "This donation will enhance an already powerful program that enriches the lives and learning experience of young people across the country."

The Center for Research on Learning, established in 1978, has developed methods to help students, especially adolescents who struggle in school, to become good learners. An internationally recognized research and development organization with more than $160 million in grant funding to develop products and programs that assist struggling learners, the center is best known for its Strategic Instruction Model now used in more than 3,500 school districts nationwide. In addition, 10 states including California and Florida have implemented the model.