NEW ORLEANS, March 1 — U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today met with students and educators at New Orleans' Parkview Fundamental Magnet School to talk about the critical need for each child to learn to read by the end of grade three and the role and value of parents reading to their children. The event was part of Read Across America Day, sponsored by the National Education Association (NEA), and now in its fifth year.

Paige visited kindergarten, second- and third-grade classrooms where he witnessed the essential components of successful reading instruction in action. He also spoke to fifth-graders in the school library, noting President Bush's desire to encourage parents, grandparents, educators and others to work together to make sure that all children learn to read and attain the most basic right — a quality education — so that no child is left behind.

"President Bush and I believe that reading is the foundation of all learning," Paige said. "Children who are never taught to read well may fall behind and never catch up. President Bush is serious about providing all children with good reading instruction in the early years and this year his budget tripled federal funding for reading programs to $900 million." Paige discussed Reading First, the president's new program for helping every young child in every state become a successful reader by the end of grade three. Created through the new No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Reading First will help states and local school districts establish high-quality comprehensive reading instruction — based on scientific research — for children in grades K-3. Louisiana is eligible to receive $19.2 million this year (FY2002) in Reading First funds, and could receive $21.3 million in FY2003 based on President Bush's budget request. Louisiana officials attended a three-day Reading Leadership Academy in Washington, D.C., one of three sessions hosted by Secretary Paige to help all states prepare for Reading First. Louisiana officials attended the Feb. 13-15 academy.

For more information about the strategies and skills involved in scientifically based reading instruction, read Put Reading First, a report by the National Institute for Literacy and the Center for Improvement of Early Reading Achievement, available online at: http://www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading/publications/reading_first1.html.

For more information about Reading First, visit: www.ed.gov/programs/readingfirst/index.html

For more information about Read Across America, go to the NEA Web site: www.nea.org/nr/nr020228.html

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