The NCAA Readers Become Leaders Program aims to help teachers who are dealing with a literacy crisis that affects children of all demographics. Educational data have shown that if reading is below grade level by the fourth grade, students are four times more likely to drop out of school. Readers Become Leaders was created to encourage children to explore their talents, which lays a foundation for future educational goals, such as attending college.

In 2019, the Fort Worth Sports Commission teamed up with the NCAA Readers Become Leaders program and the Fort Worth ISD to implement the program in grades K – 5 as part of the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships – hosted at Dickies Arena.  More than 17,000 FWISD students participated in the program reading a total of more than 6.7 million minutes making it the single biggest community outreach program in NCAA history! 

The program has continued since 2019 with great success.  In five years, the program has seen more than 92,000 students read more than 101 million minutes. 

Last year alone, we had 78 schools, 38,636 students and 71,306,182 minutes read! The program is back again this year and the incentives and benefits to the students and participating schools has never been better. 

Timeline

October 11th - Registration Opens
January 26th – Last Day to Register
January 29th – Competition Begins and Kick-off Party
April 5th – Last day to log minutes
April 17th – Winner announced at Dickies Arena 

Prizes

*The first 40 schools to register for the program will receive a library refresh – 150 new books (25 per grade level) donated to their library by the Fort Worth Sports Commission.

• Grand Prize
  • $1500 Scholastic Credit
  • $500 gift card for pizza party
  • $100 Visa Gift Card for each teacher
  • Scholastic Grab and Go Packet for each student
  • Clifford for Pizza Party
     
• 1st Place School in each Division (3 schools total) 
  • $1000 Scholastic Credit
  • $500 gift card for pizza party
  • $100 gift card for each teacher
  • 250 book library refresh
     
• 2nd and 3rd for each Division (8 schools) 
  • $75 Visa Gift Card for each teacher
  • School Library Refresh – 150 books for the school library
     
• Top Classroom for All Grades Pre-K-5 (7 classes) 
  • $500 Scholastic Gift Card
  • Scholastic Grab and Go Packets for all students – 5 books per pack