A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

FOR RELEASE
May 25, 2000

Contact:
John Emekli
(202) 401-3026

RILEY KICKS OFF NATIONAL SUMMER READING CAMPAIGN

At an outdoor celebration today U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley kicked off the America Reads national summer reading campaign.

Joining Riley at U.S. Department of Education headquarters in reading aloud to elementary school students and distributing hundreds of free books were U.S. Secretary of the Army Louis Caldera; Carol Rasco, director of the department's America Reads Challenge; Virginia Hayes Williams, mother of Washington, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams; and popular children's book characters Poky the Puppy, Clifford the Big Red Dog and Arthur [today marks Arthur's "twenty-fifth birthday"].

"Students who read over the summer are better prepared to learn when they return to school in the fall," Riley said. "I urge families and caregivers to make reading a summer priority. In doing so, you will teach your children the most valuable lesson of all-never take a vacation from learning."

The America Reads Challenge, a grassroots national campaign, challenges every American to help children learn to read by the end of the third grade. Research shows that unless students continue to read throughout the summer, they may fall back as much as a grade level in their skills. America Reads makes four recommendations to engage children in reading during the summer:

• Read and write thirty minutes a day, five days per week.

• Read at least one day per week with an adult.

• Get and use a library card.

• Learn one new word each day.

"Reading for pleasure can motivate a child to push past early reading struggles, and emerge an independent reader," said Rasco. "Summertime offers a great opportunity for children to choose books they might not see in school."

America Reads will distribute 2.5 million Read*Write*Now! Activity Posters in English and Spanish, including one to every elementary student in the Washington, D.C. public schools. The poster, featuring Arthur and his family on the front and reading activities on the back, was developed in partnership with the American Library Association, Pizza Hut BOOK IT!, Reading Is Fundamental and Scholastic, Inc.

To order a free Arthur poster, call (877) 4ED-PUBS (toll-free) or visit the America Reads website at www.ed.gov/americareads. For more information on reading and other learning subjects, call (800) USA-LEARN.

###