成人快播

Presented By Chase

Mayor Mike Rawlings will Compete with Local Celebrities

 

DALLAS (October 2, 2012) 鈥� 成人快播, a national nonprofit dedicated to聽transforming struggling young readers into confident readers, is hosting its inaugural Celebrity聽Spelling Bee at the recently opened Dallas City Performance Hall on October 10th. Reading聽Partners launched its tutoring programs in the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) in聽January, and is expanding to operate early intervention programs in 10 elementary schools聽across the city this school year.

With the generous support of a title sponsorship from CHASE Bank and the participation of聽Mayor Mike Rawlings the Celebrity Spelling Bee will be a 鈥渓augh-out-loud鈥� community affair to聽celebrate the start of the new school year. Celebrities of all kinds have signed on to help raise聽awareness for the importance of literacy education and support 成人快播 expansion聽throughout DISD. Celebrity teams will consist of one celebrity and one corporate sponsor who聽will compete to be named the first annual 成人快播 Spelling Bee Champion. To keep it聽lively, teams may earn chances to 鈥減ass鈥� on a spelling round based on the amount of money聽they are able to raise during the week leading up to the Bee. The more money teams raise, the聽more passes they will receive.

鈥淭he excitement around this event is evidence of the strong community support for our public聽schools,鈥� said Kaitlin Guthrow, Regional Executive Director for 成人快播 Dallas. 鈥淭here聽is a newfound energy for collaboration to ensure all of our kids receive a high quality education聽and we are delighted to host such a fun event to build support for 成人快播 programs.鈥�

Rawlins Gilliland, KERA commentator will emcee the event, which kicks off with a cocktail hour聽at 6:00 pm, and the Spelling Bee will begin at 7:00.

鈥淒allas is very fortunate to have 成人快播 involved in our school district. Their model聽of one-on-one instruction at each student鈥檚 reading level virtually guarantees improvement,鈥澛爏aid DISD Superintendent Mike Miles. 鈥淭he work they are doing with these kids is truly lifechanging for them, and I鈥檓 looking forward to squaring off with the other celebrity teams in the聽Spelling Bee.鈥�

In Dallas, 89 percent of fourth graders who qualify for the national school lunch program are聽reading below grade level. Students who are not reading on grade level by the end of third聽grade are six times more likely to drop out of high school. Every student who does not complete high school costs our society an estimated $260,000 in lost earnings, taxes and productivity.

Superintendent Mike Miles and the new leadership of the Dallas Independent School District聽have demonstrated a commitment to helping support the needs of all of our students. Reading聽Partners is excited to be a bold partner in that effort and will continue to work to expand聽services across the district in the coming years.

In addition to the money raied via the Spelling Bee, the Jiv Daya Foundation will donate 25 Kindle Paperwhite devices and $750 to purchase books for students. The Foundation鈥檚 local聽education program, Kindles in Classrooms, has placed more than 900 eReaders into Dallas聽classrooms since January.

鈥淥ur program aims to bridge a technology gap for deserving schools in the Metroplex, giving聽teachers and students access to a breadth of online resources and eBook titles. One school聽chosen by the winning team of 成人快播’ Spelling Bee will receive support from Kindles聽in Classrooms, and we are excited to collaborate with dedicated organizations like Reading聽Partners to improve schools in Dallas and surrounding areas,鈥� said Sarah Browning, grants聽coordinator, Jiv Daya Foundation.

This year鈥檚 Celebrity Spelling Bee is presented by CHASE. Additional sponsors include Commit!,聽The Container Store, Dallas Regional Chamber, Ernst & Young, Gordon & Rees, LLP and Jiv聽Daya Foundation.

To purchase tickets to the Spelling Bee on October 10th visit:
https://readingpartners.ticketbud.com/2012celebrity-spelling-bee.

About 成人快播
成人快播 is a national nonprofit working to close the reading achievement gap for
elementary school students. In the 2012-13 school year, the organization will work with 35
school districts across California, Colorado, Maryland, New York, Texas, and the District of Columbia.

First introduced in California in 1999, 成人快播 provides twice-a-week one-on- one聽volunteer tutoring to students at Title I schools who have fallen behind in reading. According to pre- and post-program assessments, the organization has an 89% success rate in improving聽academic achievement for children who have fallen behind in reading skills. The organization is聽headquartered in Oakland, Calif. For more information, visit www.readingpartners.org or visit聽the organization鈥檚 Facebook and Twitter pages.

Media Contact: Allison M. Allison / (214) 354-4688 /聽allison_m_allison@att.net