[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 141 (Thursday, October 3, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12339-S12340]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   SATISFYING THE HUNGER FOR READING

 Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, encouraging strong reading habits 
in schoolchildren is a goal that we all share. Reading skills are a 
core element of the National Education Goals, and literacy is the 
subject of a new Presidential initiative.
  To highlight the importance of reading, I would like to take a brief 
moment to describe the achievements of an innovative program at a very 
special school in New Mexico that I believe captures what we should all 
be trying to do to promote reading.
  This fall, the lunch period at Dolores Gonzales Elementary School in 
Albuquerque will be satisfying a different kind of appetite: A hunger 
for reading. Thanks to their Join-a-School Partners--Sunwest Bank, 
Bueno Foods, the Albuquerque Zoological Park, and community members--
more than 50 students at Dolores Gonzales Elementary will have a 
partner to read with under a pilot program which I helped initiate at 
the school last spring.
  The Read-Write-Now program pairs an adult volunteer with a student 
from Dolores Gonzales for reading. The program has grown from a dozen 
or so volunteers last spring to more than 50 this fall. I commend 
principal Dora Ortiz and her dedicated staff and teachers for fostering 
the Read-Write-Now program at their school.
  I borrowed the idea from a similar program which originated in New 
York City. Volunteers pledge 1 lunch hour a week for the entire 
semester to read with the children. This one-on-one approach helps the 
children develop their reading ability and love of books, as well as 
make a new friend. It is impossible to overestimate the value of this

[[Page S12340]]

program because so much of one's educational and personal success is 
built on one's ability to read.
  If we are to be a nation of learners and achievers, we have to first 
be a nation of readers. A recent National Educational Goals Panel 
report indicated that students in New Mexico and many other States are 
not achieving in reading comprehension as well as they need to do in 
order to succeed in school and work.
  This initiative will help us improve, and I would urge other 
businesses in our communities in New Mexico and around the Nation to 
initiate the Read-Write-Now program at their partner schools.

                          ____________________