Ticket to Reading Rewards Brings the Excitement of College Basketball to Chicago Students
Dec. 11, 2002
CHICAGO, IL - Arne Duncan, CEO of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), and Mike Krzyzewski, President of the National Association of Basketball Coaches Foundation (NABC) and Duke University Head Men's Basketball Coach, announced today the tip-off of "Ticket to Reading Rewards" - a program designed to encourage sixth, seventh and eighth graders to read outside of the classroom. The goal is to motivate students to the top of academic success.
"We are very excited to partner with the National Association of Basketball Coaches Foundation to bring this promising initiative to Chicago," said Duncan. "This program compliments our efforts to improve students' reading skills. Most importantly, we are grateful to the Foundation and its corporate sponsors for selecting Chicago as the first 'Ticket to Reading Rewards' school system."
Presented by Ariel Mutual Funds and BankOne, the program offers basketball related incentives. The incentives include: trophies, tickets to area college basketball games, autographed basketballs and gift certificates for students who read books outside of class at their individual reading levels.
"As the charitable arm of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, we are committed to helping young people improve their reading skills," explained Coach Krzyzewski. "We recognize that many kids respond enthusiastically to college basketball. Our goal here is to transfer that excitement to reading."
The program is being offered to more than 250 CPS schools that have reading specialists who work directly with teachers and students in the areas of reading and writing. These reading specialists will administer the program and present awards to students at four designated "rally days" during the college basketball season. Those students who read more than 25 books will be eligible for top prizes, including basketballs and the NABC Reading Trophy (available to the top readers in 18 areas).
In addition to building reading skills, the program also offers CPS elementary basketball coaches the chance to improve their own basketball skills with a Coaching Clinic as part of the kick-off program. "As the association for basketball coaches, we want to assist CPS with both academic and athletic programming," explained Coach Krzyzewski. CPS estimates that 200 youth coaches will attend the clinic.
