MAYOR GIULIANI ANNOUNCES EXPANSION OF "PARTNERS IN READING" LITERACY PROGRAM AT 92 PUBLIC HOUSING CENTERS
Joined by Chancellor Rudolph F. Crew, Board of Education President William C. Thompson, Jr., Deputy Mayor Ninfa Segarra and New York City Housing Authority Chair Ruben Franco, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani today announced the expansion of the Partners In Reading literacy program. The announcement was made at the Rutgers Houses Community Center in Manhattan--one of twenty Housing Authority sites where the program has been operating as a pilot project since April 1997.
Partners In Reading is an after-school literacy pilot program developed collaboratively between the City, the Board of Education and the New York City Housing Authority that provides literacy instruction to public school children residing in public housing and attending first, second and third grades. It is the first such collaboration on reading programs between the Housing Authority and the Board of Education, and will supplement the Board of Education's focus on continuing to improve the reading level of the City's students.
"This pilot program has been a tremendous success and I am pleased to announce its expansion to a total of 92 Housing Authority community centers throughout the City," Mayor Giuliani said. "In just a few months, Partners in Reading has generated excitement about reading and has inspired the involvement of parents and mentors who are responding to the challenge of empowering our children with a most vital skill--the ability to read. I congratulate everyone involved in this collaborative effort to increase reading achievement and strengthen our children's literacy skills.
"This is an unprecedented education undertaking in New York City's public housing. It is a wonderful complement to both Project Read and Chancellor Crew's commitment to help students achieve reading proficiency by the end of grade three. Under his leadership, reading scores have had the greatest increase in ten years. Now we must all build on this achievement and make a stronger commitment to our children's education."
Chancellor Crew said, "The expansion of the Partners in Reading pilot program is a tremendous addition to the on-going and intensive focus on greater literacy for all New York City public school children by the Board of Education. This cooperative effort will help many more children read more effectively by bringing instruction 'home' to the areas where many of our students live. In particular, it helps extend the school day and school year, which is a necessity if we are to increase reading skills among all children."
Commenting on the success of the program, Board of Education President William C. Thompson, Jr., said, "I am delighted to join the Mayor's Office and the Housing Authority in expanding this program which allows even more students to benefit from this intensive focus on literacy. I cannot imagine a better convergence of home and school than through the Partners in Reading program, which builds on the school day and year after students leave the school building."
Housing Authority Chair Franco noted, " The results we have seen among the youngsters already participating in this program are gratifying and encouraging. It demonstrates that the community, working together with parents, can make a world of difference in a child's education and desire to learn."
Begun in April 1997 as a pilot program at 20 Housing Authority community centers located throughout the five boroughs, the program had an initial enrollment of 1,580 children. Board of Education teachers work with small groups of students at the community centers for two hours twice a week. Housing Authority community center staff and parent volunteers assist the teachers with homework tasks and individual work with students. The pilot program will continue at these 20 community centers during the summer.
The expanded program begins in September and will operate for 36 weeks during the 1997-1998 school year. It will serve up to 5,190 students in grades 1, 2 and 3 with up to four hours of literacy instruction per week. The program will also provide training to parents on reading techniques and how to develop reading activities for children at home. The curriculum is designed to engage the student in a variety of activities, including individual instruction, independent reading, journal writing and related project work. The expanded program will continue to be led by professional teachers from the Board of Education assisted by parent volunteers and community center staff.
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