Eagles Youth Partnership Teams Up with Camden City Public Schools to Reward Student Reading Achievement with a Turf Field and Eagles Book Mobile Visits

CAMDEN, N.J., April 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Camden City Public School students, who are making tremendous literacy strides this year using American Reading Company's Action 100 program, now have even more incentive to read as the Eagles Youth Partnership (EYP) announced it will sponsor a new turf field for a top-performing school in the district.  At the end of the school year, the two top schools will be identified using data monitoring software from American Reading Company that tracks the percentage of students who have read 800 "steps" or 200 hours during the school year.  One school will receive the Eagles turf field and the other will receive a new playground, funded by the district.  

Across Camden schools, students will hear messages broadcast over Public Address (PA) systems from Philadelphia Eagles tight end #87, Brent Celek, who encourages students to keep up with their reading and reminds them that all students in the school need to keep reading in order to win the turf field.  Camden's overall literacy objectives this year, combined with the ability to track student progress using real-time data, attracted the attention of EYP.  "We are delighted to support Camden Schools to recognize measurable reading achievement," said Sarah Martinez-Helfman, Executive Director of EYP. EYP is also sponsoring 15 Eagles Book Mobile visits to three schools, donating more than 600 books for students to take home and keep.  

"In meeting today's educational challenges, we continuously seek to partner with both community outreach programs and private businesses to support sustainable student achievement," said Andrea Gonzalez-Kirwin, Assistant Superintendent of Camden City Public Schools.  "I am thrilled that we are establishing an effective model for such a partnership with EYP and American Reading Company."

Thanks to federal stimulus funding, this school year students in Camden's 20 elementary and family schools are participating in Action 100, American Reading Company's Response to Intervention (RtI) Accountability Model, which uses 100 Book Challenge as the structured independent reading system.  View a short video about Action 100 in Camden on YouTube.

As of today, the top three performing schools in the district are U.S. Wiggins Elementary, Harry C. Sharp Elementary, and Henry H. Davis Elementary, all of which have over 90% of students on track to achieve reading targets.  The district continues to seek additional support from private businesses and community organizations to sponsor rewards for high-performing schools and students.

About Eagles Youth Partnership

Established in 1995, EYP is the nonprofit wing of the Philadelphia Eagles that was created to improve opportunities and enhance the quality of life for youth throughout the Philadelphia region. EYP provides health and educational resources to more than 50,000 children annually through programs such as the Eagles Book Mobile and Eye Mobile and the Eagles Playground Build.

About American Reading Company

American Reading Company transforms school cultures to create sustainable reading achievement through training, management, and monitoring. The company was founded in 1998 and is now based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Today, more than a million students in 2,100 schools across 420 districts in 41 states participate in the company's programs, which include Action 100, 100 Book Challenge, Research Labs, and Summer School Express. For more information, please visit www.americanreading.com.

CONTACT: Jessica Lester, (215) 884-6499 of The Communication Solutions Group, Inc. for American Reading Company

SOURCE American Reading Company