Big crowds at reader pep rallies

By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

Given the turnout, one would think that Jed Gaines is giving away cash, or perhaps performing circus stunts or emceeing a fight night.

Varick Jordan, 6, volunteers an answer to a question posed by the leader of a Read Aloud America session at Iroquois Point Elementary School. Since 1999, Read Aloud sessions have attracted 62,000 participants on O'ahu and Kaua'i. Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

In La'ie, 661 people came one night; in Waiau, 499; at Nanaikapono, 402.

The smallest crowd at an event where people come to school at night to listen to books read aloud has been about 150 people.

There is the free pizza, soft drinks and snacks.

But mostly there are books.

The turnout at these reading pep rallies blows away what most schools can muster for a Parent-Teacher Association meeting, a school performance or a Huli-Huli chicken fund-raiser.

Gaines, founder of the nonprofit foundation Read Aloud America, says his is the largest reading participation program in the country. Since 1999, more than 62,000 parents and children in Hawai'i have attended a Read Aloud America session at 32 public schools on O'ahu and Kaua'i. The program has won the support of schools Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto as a way to give students an appreciation and sense of the joy of reading.

The Read Aloud Programs, known as RAP, happen at night in elementary and middle schools across the state. Corporate sponsors donate pizza and other goodies so families can come straight from work and not go hungry. Everyone divides up by age level. And Gaines and others read aloud.

It's a simple program, but the key lies in bringing families together, Gaines said.

While Read Aloud America is just one of several literacy programs in the state, reading programs like it have become important because, despite an emphasis on developing literacy skills at an earlier age, many Hawai'i children can't read on grade level.

Results of the Hawai'i State Assessment, a series of tests taken in the spring, were released Thursday. The tests found that public-school students continue to score well below state math and reading standards, and that fifth-, eighth- and 10th-grade students did worse this year than in 2002, the first year the tougher state tests were given.

On the most recent National Association of Educational Progress, the only federally financed ongoing assessment of student reading achievement on a national scale, just 36 percent of high-school seniors across the country could read and analyze challenging material, down from 40 percent in 1998.

Under the new federal education law known as No Child Left Behind, all children should be reading on grade level by 2013. If children in a variety of subgroups, such as those living in poverty or learning English as a second language, can't read as well as their peers, schools could be sanctioned.

Myron Brumaghim, principal at Nanaikapono Elementary, said he brought in the RAP program because reading is a major focus at his school.

"This has helped bring it more to the forefront," Brumaghim said. "I've noticed that kids are checking out books more. Parents say they are going to the library with their children more. During recess I see kids going into the library. The teachers can take kids in, but it's something else when they go in on their own."

Jed Gaines, founder of Read Aloud America, leads a session at Iroquois Point Elementary School. It’s a prelude to the popular rallies. Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

When the program was at Palolo Elementary, RAP formed a teen reading group when they discovered how many children were bringing their older brothers and sisters.

There's no pressure. Nothing to buy. Nothing to sign up for. No questions to answer. No tests to take.

At a RAP classroom session at Nanaikapono Elementary, which Gaines does in the weeks leading up to the nighttime events, students in Sonia Peralta's fifth-grade classroom heard Gaines' pitch about RAP.

"Do we do any tests at RAP?" Gaines asks.

"Nooooo," the students chorus.

"Do we write any books reports at RAP?"

"Nooooo."

And therein lies the popularity for students and adults.

"It's very nonthreatening," Gaines said. "Every parent wants to do the best for their child. They don't know what to do."

Parents are key in developing literacy skills, Gaines said. He and others believe that reading aloud to children from infancy can solve much of the reading problem in the schools because it will make children better prepared. Research shows that children who have been read to from an early age perform better in school.

Also, children have a listening level that is two to five times greater than their reading level, which means they can listen to books at a higher academic level than they can read. That helps build their vocabulary.

Gaines said even if parents don't read or speak English well, they can get audiotapes of books from the library and listen to those as a family.

He tries to get parents to turn off the television during weeknights and read to their children every day. "Reading is as close to a magic wand as you are ever going to have," Gaines said.

In Peralta's classroom, Gaines reads aloud from the Roald Dalh story, "The Boy Who Talked With Animals." He tells the kids to relax, to even sleep if they want. But as the story continues, the students' eyes bug out with excitement. They lean forward in their desks.

"If you think this is good right now, this is just a taste," Gaines enthuses. "This book is so good, it's unbelievable."

No one sleeps.