HOUSE MEMORIAL 98

49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2009

INTRODUCED BY

Jeff Steinborn

A MEMORIAL

LAUDING ALLEN AND VIRGINIA CRANE AND REQUESTING THE PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT TO CONSIDER THE ADOPTION OF THE VISION AND READING TECHNIQUES DEVELOPED BY THE CRANES TO IMPROVE READING FOR CHILDREN IN KINDERGARTEN THROUGH TWELFTH GRADE.

     WHEREAS, Allen and Virginia Crane have dedicated their lives to helping children overcome reading challenges; and

     WHEREAS, the Cranes have researched how underlying problems, such as poor vision and allergies, affect reading ability in various subgroups in New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, the Cranes have served southern New Mexico since 1997 by offering exemplary programs to treat reading failure in at-risk students and to increase reading fluency, comprehension, vocabulary and decoding skills in wider populations; and

     WHEREAS, Allen and Virginia Crane have provided free training for teachers in public and private schools to implement the Crane reading program and increase student success; and

     WHEREAS, the reading program was adopted by the Las Cruces Lions clubs, and, with the clubs' help, by 2008-2009, the Lions Crane reading program had helped almost two thousand five hundred children in four school districts across southern New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, the Lions Crane reading program was chosen as one of the top three Lions service projects in the world, out of forty-five thousand Lions clubs in ninety-three countries, at the Lions clubs international meeting in Tokyo in July 2005; and

     WHEREAS, the Cranes incorporated the nonprofit New Mexico Lions Crane reading foundation, which is supported by grants and donations to provide vision care and reading programs for children in New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, students participating in the six-week summer 2008 Lions Crane reading program demonstrated a doubling of average reading speed with over eighty percent comprehension, and students who were scheduled to repeat their last year's grade became eligible for promotion to the next grade after participating in the summer program; and

     WHEREAS, the Lions Crane reading program at Gadsden high school has resulted in reading improvements of between two and four grade levels in one semester, with a few students increasing their reading levels as much as eight grades; and

     WHEREAS, testimonials from participating public schools in the Cobre consolidated school district show that the reading program developed by Allen and Virginia Crane is making a remarkable difference in reading scores; and

     WHEREAS, the ability to read is basic not just to success in school but to success in life;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that Allen and Virginia Crane be honored for their extraordinary efforts to improve the lives of New Mexico citizens by helping them to read; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the public education department be requested to follow up on the proclamation issued by Governor Bill Richardson on July 30, 2004, in which he encouraged schools and parents to adjust desk heights and provide eye examinations for all students, to determine if strides have been made in securing these important components of the Lions Crane reading program for public school students; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department evaluate the program's components and techniques and consider adopting them for use in New Mexico public schools to improve reading scores and other indices of adequate yearly progress required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department report its findings and recommendations to the legislative education study committee by November 1, 2009; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to Allen and Virginia Crane, the public education department and the legislative education study committee.

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