In Santa Ana School District, Reading Is Job One

SANTA ANA — It’s 9:15 a.m., and students at Sierra Intermediate School are reading.

So are teachers, secretaries and the principal. The head of plant maintenance, Charlie See, also is reading. He peruses “The Complete Handyman” as jazz music plays over the radio in his small office.

The rest of the school is so silent that you can almost hear the pages of books being turned.

The calm that envelops Sierra Intermediate for 15 minutes a day is the result of a silent reading program, which now takes place in all seven Santa Ana Unified School District intermediate schools.

“Reading is a lifelong skill,” explained Sierra Principal Brenda McGaffigan, whose school started the silent reading program this academic year. “It’s not one we get rid of when another machine comes along and improves things.”

For students, the reading breaks are more fun than work.

Maboby Bahadarakhann, 11, said she has learned about time management.

“Reading [time] is important,” she said. “It’s not time to throw away.”

One of Maboby’s classmates, Christian Flores, came to a similar conclusion about the importance of setting aside time for reading only.

“It’s really fun,” Christian said. “There’s nothing to do--besides reading.”

Silent reading programs--which have been in existence in California schools for as long as 25 years--have been endorsed by state schools Supt. Delaine Eastin as an effective way to teach vocabulary and other skills.

Santa Ana officials said the reading programs may help some students improve their SAT scores. Five of the schools began programs in the last two years alone.

While local officials hope the reading program will assist students, one state official said 15-minute breaks may not be enough.

Dennis Parker, manager of the elementary academic support office in the California Department of Education, said more time for reading will increase effectiveness.

Studies have shown that for students to get the most out of silent reading, they must read for 20 minutes a day, Parker said. That means about 1 million words a year--the “break point” for learning gains, officials say.

The Santa Ana district has no overall policy regarding silent reading programs. Rather, the decision to use such programs has been left up to individual schools.

Some principals say they came up with the 15-minute figure after speaking with students, parents and teachers and taking into account the time needed for other classes.

“We wanted to give it a fair amount of time,” said MacArthur Fundamental Intermediate School Principal Lisa Hinshaw, “but not a huge amount of time.”

Principals add that while silent reading times may be 15 minutes or less, students spend other times of the day reading.

McGaffigan said that beginning the day with silent reading has another benefit that may not translate directly into facts and figures.

“I see it as a way of life,” she said. “In the office, it gets us focused for the day. We realize, ‘I’m reading, I’m in school now.’ ”

The recent increase in silent reading programs in Santa Ana comes from a 1995 meeting when intermediate school principals agreed on the need to focus on reading skills, McGaffigan said.

While everyone from students to secretaries participates in silent reading at Sierra, other schools require only students and teachers to read during the language arts, or English, class.

It is too early to measure the success of the program, but administrators such as McGaffigan say they can point to individual children saying it has become easier to read their textbooks since they began silent reading.

At Sierra, even visitors are not exempt from reading time, and are provided magazines by school administrators.

Sierra students in the nurse’s office during reading time also are expected to read a book, McGaffigan said, and those on their way to class when reading time hits must sit and read on lunch benches so as not to disturb their classmates.