How a reading competition is improving scores at Pittsburgh-area schools

Teachers across western Pennsylvania have found a way to get third graders excited about reading through a program developed by the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation and U.S. Steel.

More than 1,000 students participated in this year's Reading Champions program, which has now concluded its fifth year. In total, kids read more than 1 million minutes' worth, according to U.S. Steel.

The program encourages kids to read both in school and at home, logging the minutes they read so it can be tallied together, with classrooms getting a range of prizes depending on how much they read.

The winning class was Carrie Catone's Wilkins Elementary STEAM Academy classroom with 78,345 minutes. The academy is part of the Woodland Hills School District.

Their classroom was rewarded with their own suite at a Penguins game and a trophy, modeled after the Stanley Cup, that's crafted by U.S. Steel.

The kids were shown on the Jumbotron, the announcer gave them a shoutout and a few of them got to say "It's a hockey night in Pittsburgh" in front of the arena. 

"My favorite part was screaming so loudly," one of the students said. 

Another student in Catone's class, Eilis Simpson, said before being in the program, she only liked to read here and there. 

"I didn't read a lot, but like, now I like to read, like, every day,"  Simpson said. 

Catone said her students read at home, at school, never stopping. 

"I'm really proud, because she inspires her little brothers to read as well," Eilis Simpson's father Joshua said. "So everybody in the house is reading."

Asked how her class read the most, Catone said it came down to determination. 

"They just continued to motivate each other," Catone said. "Each week I would tell them what their total minutes were, so their determination was to beat the minutes that they got one week, they would try to beat it the following week."

By turning reading into a game, the program has found success.

The program includes students from Clairton City, Duquesne City, McKeesport, Pittsburgh Public Schools, Propel Braddock Hills Elementary School, South Allegheny, Steel Valley, West Mifflin, Wilkinsburg and Woodland Hills.

Teacher Ashley Green's classroom at Clara Barton Elementary School in West Mifflin won in her first year participating in the program. 

She invited KDKA into her classroom, where she set a 20-minute timer for the class to read, fittingly the length of a hockey period.

"The goal is to get a book in their hands, get them working with words, get them looking at pictures, use their imagination, spark their creativity, and then motivate them to be a part of a team and log minutes towards a classroom goal, an individual goal," Green said. 

Prizes range from bookmarks to foam pucks, mini sticks to Penguins tickets. The classroom that reads the most gets to watch a Penguins game from inside of a suite. 

"It was incredible, an incredible experience for the families," Green said. 

Many of the kids had never been to a Penguins game before. Oftentimes, families get tickets to go to Penguins games who could not afford to go otherwise. 

West Mifflin literacy coach Dina Fouser said they saw a 20% increase in students' reading proficiency scores in the program's first year. She's confident the increase is a direct result of the program. Each year since the program, scores have improved, she said.

"By developing those reading habits, it has allowed them to build stamina and confidence in reading," she said. 

Scott Buckiso, U.S. Steel senior vice president and chief manufacturing officer of North American Flat-Rolled, was on hand in the suite with students at the Penguins game. He said it doesn't matter whether you're the winning school.

"Every kid here today is a winner. So is U.S. Steel, and so is the Penguins for supporting it," Buckiso said. 

The impact, he added, is obvious. 

"We're helping kids want to get that education, want to be able to read," Buckiso said. "We give them something, a goal to go after, and that drives the kids in the classroom."

He said it helps them to eventually become better contributors in their community.

"And hopefully we see some of them in our facilities later in life," he said. 

U.S. Steel supplies books for the classrooms, a company spokesperson said. Those books feature positive handwritten messages written by U.S. Steel and Penguins employees. 

One read, "You can do this, one book at a time."