Art Garcia | Mavs.com
Posted: April 10, 2008

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It’s easy to associate Jason Kidd with numbers. How many assists did he rack up last night? How many triple-doubles does he have? Have many games have the Mavericks won?

Basketball and numbers go hand-in-hand. So does basketball and reading. Kidd made that point to several hundred kids from Cesar Chavez Learning Center in Dallas who won the tenth annual Mavs Reading Challenge, sponsored by Metro PCS.

“They look at us as basketball players just running up and down the court, but with me being traded I had to understand the playbook and that involves being able to read,” said Kidd, the keynote speaker at the assembly recognizing the students from Cesar Chavez.

The Reading Challenge was open to second-fifth graders throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. They were challenged to read as many minutes as possible during a two-month time span and prizes were awarded based on the level of minutes students achieved.

Over 5,600 students in the D/FW area participated in the Read Challenge and combined to read 5.5 million minutes. The students at Cesar Chavez totaled more than 450,000 minutes.

“To be able to read 450,000 minutes is mind boggling,” Kidd said. “To be able to do that shows their commitment and effort to do the right thing. It shows that with our youth, if you give them structure that they can do positive things.”

Cesar Chavez counselor Scott Mauro organized the school’s efforts. Mauro collected all the reading logs and counted the minutes.

“I pushed it as much as I could and promoted the program, and these kids really rose to the occasion and read a tremendous amount of minutes,” he said.

A byproduct, Mauro added, was the difference in test scores for the students that took part in the Reading Challenge. He compared the TAKS scores of the third and fifth graders who did the reading and 98 percent passed, while 65 percent of those who didn’t passed.

“Reading pays off,” Mauro said. “We were thrilled to death to be involved in the Reading Challenge and it inspired us to do better. We were last a year ago in our area and this was an incredible jump.”

Kidd also presented an autographed jersey to the school and answered a number of questions from the students. As a parent, he truly understands the value of the program.

“This is important because a lot of us have kids and understand how important the Read to Achieve or any program is that the NBA is involved in that reflects on our youth,” Kidd said. “If you can’t read, you can’t advance, so to be able to have those dreams, you have to be able to read.”

Jason Kidd spoke to the kids about the improtance of reading. Glenn James/NBAE/Getty Images

Jason meets with some student reporters. Glenn James/NBAE/Getty Images

The kids had the opportunity to interview Jason for their newspaper. Glenn James/NBAE/Getty Images

School counselor Scott Mauro helped put the program in place at Cesar Chavez. Glenn James/NBAE/Getty Images

Kidd high fives some of the students as he leaves the assembly. Glenn James/NBAE/Getty Images

A group shot with Jason, Scott Mauro, the student reporters and Corey, from Metro PCS. NBAE/Getty Images