[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 51 (Tuesday, May 3, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 3, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
 SHAPING THE FUTURES OF OUR CHILDREN--ONE COMMUNITY'S ANSWER: THE LONG 
   BEACH UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT'S PERSONAL PALS FOR PROGRESS PROGRAM

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                           HON. STEPHEN HORN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 3, 1994

  Mr. HORN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring to the Nation's 
attention an effort in my district, California's 38th, in which 
individual citizens are making an impact on the future of the 
community's children. It is an effort which is simple in its design and 
operation, yet far reaching in its impact.
  The Long Beach Unified School District is actively involving a wide 
spectrum of citizens in the future of our young people. While the 
commitment asked of these citizens is minimal, the results of their 
efforts will be maximal for untold years to come. It is an effort worth 
applauding and an enterprise worth emulating.
  In January 1990, then-principal of Long Beach's inner-city Whittier 
Elementary School, Dr. Randy Ward and teacher Christine Lungren-
Maddalone took a realistic look at the school's 1,000 young students. 
These children were presenting their teachers with some of the most 
difficult challenges known to educators today. The students came from 
some of the lowest income families in Long Beach--95 percent were at or 
below poverty level. They lived in the middle of an active gang 
neighborhood. The majority--81 percent--were classified as limited-
English proficient.
  But the children of Whittier Elementary School were eager to learn 
and enthusiastic about their work. And this gave Dr. Ward and Ms. 
Lungres-Maddalone hope. They knew that their overtaxed teachers could 
not meet all of the many special demands of these children, so they 
reached out beyond the school's walls to the citizens of Long Beach.
  The Whittier faculty asked key decisionmakers in the Long Beach 
community to offer their support by becoming personal pen pals with 
individual students in the school's fifth grade. The hope was for each 
child to develop a connection between school and work and to be exposed 
to positive role models.
  Over 100 citizens responded--including then-Congressman Glenn 
Anderson, California State Attorney General Daniel Lungren, Long Beach 
Mayor Ernie Kell, as well as leaders from the city's industrial, 
academic, and nonprofit communities--and each fifth grade child at 
Whittier Elementary School was matched with a pen pal.
  Each adult pen pal exchanged a minimum of two informal letters with 
his or her student, encouraging the child to share his or her 
experiences, goals, and dreams. Many of the adult pen pals sent books 
and other small gifts, stopped by the school to visit, took their 
student to lunch, and developed close, supportive friendships with 
their students.

  The first Personal Pen Pals for Progress Program in 1990 was so 
successful that it was expanded to include fourth grade students in its 
second year and, later, third graders. I am a pen pal with student John 
Nguyen, a third grader at Whittier, and last year I corresponded with 
another Whittier student, Randy Phao.
  Today, almost 300 of Whittier Elementary School's 1,000 children are 
involved in personal pals for progress, and the results have been 
dramatic. The school now has the next to lowest absentee rate of all of 
Long Beach's elementary schools, and discipline problems are next to 
nil. But it is the academic outcomes that are the most dramatic. For 
instance, the Whittier fourth graders' MAT-6 test scores in reading, 
math, and language placed them 13th, 14th, and 5th, respectively, out 
of all of the city's 58 elementary schools.
  These learning and behavior achievements are impressive. But the best 
endorsement of the program comes from the students themselves. They now 
openly dream and plan for their futures, knowing that there are people 
in the Long Beach community who care about them--and that all things 
are possible with effort.
  Whittier Elementary fifth grader Gregory Razo, has written to his pen 
pal, Long Beach Unified School District's Director of Public 
Information Dick Van Der Laan,

       I've been thinking of what I want to do when I grow up. I 
     want to go through college and get a good job. I would like 
     to be a policemen because I could get robbers. Another thing 
     I want to do is to travel around the world because I want to 
     see all different things.

  I salute the Personal Pen Pals for Progress Program of the Long Beach 
Unified School District, especially its student and adult participants 
who are proving that one-on-one sharing and caring can make a big 
difference in the life of a child. I strongly urge other communities 
across America to take notice. This program, which is making a 
difference to youngsters in Long Beach, CA, is a model for our Nation's 
future.

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