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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The “wranglers” at Lang Ranch Elementary School read for pencils and parties, Popsicles and popcorn.

Their goal: 2 million pages in six months.

Their final tally: 2,917,884 pages.

The students read more than any other Ventura County school and ranked among the top 400 campuses in California. The school, part of the Conejo Valley Unified district, won $5,000 and recognition from Gov. Gray Davis.

Teachers and parents at Lang Ranch credit the incentives with motivating kids to pick up so many books. The students read whenever they had a chance. Dr. Seuss during recess. Harry Potter at lunch. Nancy Drew after school.

And they were rewarded often.

The theme of Lang Ranch’s program was “Watch Our Reading Tree Grow.” The names of students who read at least 75 pages each week were printed on construction paper leaves and posted on paper trees that lined the hallways.

They also earned raffle tickets, which went into a monthly drawing for a host of donated prizes: free dinners, T-shirts, mugs, dessert certificates. Each week, the school identified on a colorful bulletin board the class that read the most pages.

At the end of the contest, each of the 748 students who participated received a pencil that said “I’m a Top Wrangler Reader.” Top-scoring classes in each grade held ice cream sundae parties. And the whole campus celebrated Friday with a reading jamboree, a carnival of games and food. The school’s most prolific reader: fifth-grader Lily Xia, who covered 23,847 pages.

Ryan Blunk, 11, read 1,408 pages, mostly from the Hardy Boys series. Ryan said he liked to read but still thought it was neat to get rewards for doing so much of it.

“The more you read, the better chance you had to win something,” he said. “That was pretty cool.”

Teacher Kevin Lynch, whose fifth-grade class read 101,674 pages, said he appreciated the school’s effort but hoped students would continue reading without the lure of prizes.

“We all like rewards,” he said, “But they shouldn’t be a driving force.”

They weren’t in some cases. Lang Ranch teachers also motivated their students by starting book clubs for the upper-grade students, holding reading events such as the “Rock ‘n Roll Read-a-Thon” and celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday in striped red and white hats.

Lang Ranch officials plan to spend the $5,000 in prize money on a computerized reading program.

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Reading Award Recipients

By county, the top five schools that qualified for $5,000 grants under Gray Davis’ Reading Award Program.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY

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School District Pages Read 1. Niemes (John H.) Elem. ABC Unified 4,530,092 2. Highlands Elem. Saugus Union Elementary 4,215,839 3. Grazide Elem. Hacienda La Puente Unified 3,623,623 4. Bellflower USD Int. L Bellflower Unified 3,101,095 5. Longden Elem. Temple City Unified 2,904,575

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VENTURA

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School District Pages Read 1. Lang Ranch Elem. Conejo Valley Unified 2,917,684 2. Oak Hills Elem. Oak Park Unified 2,502,068 3. Tierra Linda Elem. Pleasant Valley 2,335,590 4. Colina Intermediate Conejo Valley Unified 2,126,137 5. Camarillo Heights Elem. Pleasant Valley 1,571,907

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SAN BERNARDINO

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School District Pages Read 1. West Hertitage Elem. Etiwanda Elementary 3,813,402 2. Briggs (Lyle S.) Fundam. Chino Valley Unified 2,920,150 3. Mesquite Trails Elem. Hesperia Unified 2,543,072 4. Morgan Elem. Rialto Unified 2,221,512 5. Tokay Elem. Fontana Unified 2,136,302

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ORANGE COUNTY

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School District Pages Read 1. Harbour View Elem. Ocean View Elementary 5,232,185 2. Jefferson Elem. Anaheim City 3,483,538 3. Greentree Elem. Irvine Unified 3,129,203 4. Webber Elem. Westminster Elementary 2,876,104 5. Hope View Elem. Huntington Beach City Elem. 2,732,577

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RIVERSIDE COUNTY

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School District Pages Read 1. Moreno Elem. Moreno Valley Unified 2,440,656 2. Martinez Elem. Coachella Valley Unified 2,021,480 3. Bubbling Wells Elem. Palm Springs Unified 1,924,632 4. Mead Valley Elem. Val Verde Unified 1,686,493 5. Hoffer Elem. Banning Unified 1,553,134

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Source: Governor’s office