Now, Reading Makes Cents

Here’s a novel way to get kids reading more: Pay them. Or, more specifically, pay their schools. That’s what Gov. Gray Davis is doing through a new state program meant to encourage leisure reading among public school students. The Governor’s Reading Award Program is doling out $2 million to 400 elementary and middle schools whose students read the most pages during a six-month contest that ended in April. In all, the students logged more than 689 million pages. Here is a snapshot of campuses in the region that logged the greatest number of pages.

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Talk about putting your money where your mouth is.

Niemes Elementary School Principal Beverly James used her tax return--more than $1,100--to reward her students for going beyond the call of reading duty.

Any student who polished off more than 5,000 pages got to choose a T-shirt that proclaimed “I Am A Winner, I Read Over 5,000 Pages” or a $5 gift certificate to the Artesia school’s April book fair.

Sixteen students chose the T-shirts. Nearly 230 took the money. James picked up the tab for it all.

“Nothing’s more important than investing in kids,” she said.

The money was one of several incentives James and her staff used in a campaign that produced monumental results. Niemes’ 640 students read more than 4.5 million pages over the six months--more than any school in Los Angeles County.

That’s an average of 7,078 pages per student. Niemes’ top reader, first-grader Marisol Santana, consumed a whopping 33,988 pages--the equivalent of 732 books.

“I was determined to win, so I didn’t watch any TV,” said Marisol, who read books in English and Spanish, including “Los Tres Cochinitos”--”The Three Little Pigs.”

The school, part of the ABC Unified District, doled out other rewards for reading progress, including bookmarks and pencil sharpeners from the Cerritos Optimist Club, gift certificates from a local pizza parlor and passes to a roller rink.

Teachers asked their students to read at least 20 minutes per night at home. Older students were expected to read more. Parents of the youngest students were supposed to read to their children. James said the majority of students read at home six times per week.

Parents signed off on the pages that were read; tutors at school kept track on oversized charts.

Meanwhile, James and her staff used the stick as well as the carrot. Teachers called parents whose children weren’t reading at home. James followed up with letters to some parents. “It worked with all but two students,” she said.

Students read and reread “Harry Potter,” the popular “Junie B. Jones” series and “Hank the Cowdog” series. In addition, “Clifford The Big Red Dog” and “Arthur” were popular. “I can’t keep those in stock,” said librarian Evie Deaton.

The school will use the $5,000 from the state to buy couches, tables and chairs for a new library scheduled to open in the fall.

And the school’s many top readers will be recognized during a festival on Friday. James will deliver the same message at the festival she reiterated throughout the contest.

“We make a big deal that reading gives you power,” she said. “In our society, you need to have power so you can make choices in life.”