Twenty-one schools throughout the Islands each received $10,000 yesterday from the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation for increasing reading scores for third-grade students.

The schools increased reading scores by 20 or more percentage points on the Hawaii State Assessment reading exams from 2003 to 2006 and were honored yesterday at a gathering of more than 300 elementary school principals and experts to improve early learning and better serve children from pre-school to third grade.

"These awards call attention to schools that have excelled at increasing third-grade reading test scores," said Patricia Hamamoto, superintendent for the state Department of Education. "With these examples, we can develop case studies that can be analyzed and applied to other schools and will hopefully improve their test scores."

Mitch D'Olier, president and CEO of the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation and Kaneohe Ranch, said, "Students who are not reading at grade level by third grade are at higher risk of never catching up to grade level, and studies show they have higher dropout, unemployment and teen pregnancy rates."

Some 52 percent of third-grade children read at grade level, according to 2006 DOE data.

Those attending yesterday's conference at the Hale Koa Hotel were also instructed on how to apply for two separate grants through the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

One, ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 over two years, would bring together organizations in the community, early childhood groups and elementary schools to focus on children from birth to grade three and help them read at grade level by grade three, among other things.

The other grant would range from $500 to $5,000 for one year to help communities get started on the process.

In all, about $3 million in grants is still available for Hawai'i early education through the Kellogg Foundation over the next eight years, said Liz Chun, executive director of Good Beginnings Alliance, one of the organizers of yesterday's conference.

SCHOOLS THAT WERE AWARDED

Here are the schools recognized by the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation for increasing reading scores for third-grade students: