WASHINGTON, D.C. - Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne will be joined by Kindergarten – 3rd graders and faculty from 20 Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) funded schools on Wednesday, November 7, to kick off the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Education’s ‘BIE READS’ plan to improve BIE students’ literacy. The Secretary will read with the students, who are from high performing BIE-funded schools from across the country, after which he will announce the schools selected to participate in the initial phase of the plan.
BIE READS furthers Secretary Kempthorne’s Improving Indian Education Initiative by increasing reading proficiency in BIE schools in grades K-3. Over the next three years, selected BIE schools will implement this program to raise their students’ reading proficiency levels and to meet their Adequate Yearly Progress goals under the No Child Left Behind Act.
| Who: | Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne Assistant Secretary, Indian Affairs, Carl Artman Students and faculty from 20 BIE-funded schools across the country |
| What: | Secretary Kempthorne reading with K-3 students and delivering remarks to kick off of the ‘BIE READS’ plan |
| When: | 1:30 p.m. EST Wednesday, November 7, 2007 |
| Where: | The South Penthouse, Room 8015 Main Interior Building 1849 C Street, NW Washington, DC |
| Media: | All credentialed media are invited to attend and photograph the event. |