JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- When Judge Karen Cole was assigned to the felony bench, she became keenly aware of the limited literacy skills of the young defendants who appeared before her.

She learned that 85 percent of all young defendants nationwide have reading difficulties, and at least 40 percent of those defendants who should be in high school read below a fourth-grade level.

Cole realized that many juvenile offenders had no hope of earning a GED or of completing high school upon release if they could not read grade-level material, which explains why so many are repeat offenders and ultimately end up in adult prison.

Cole's research into court-based literacy programs led her to Judge James Milliken, then chief judge of the San Diego Juvenile Court, who had instituted a remarkably successful reading program for incarcerated youth.

Milliken's program, where students made gains of at least two grade levels in reading in just 12 weeks, was modeled after a school district in Pueblo, Colo., which had made dramatic gains in reading scores using intensive, research-based instruction.

Pueblo students went from being among the poorest readers in the state to outperforming the state average by as much as 10 points in just five years. Pueblo schools have won White House recognition for their achievements

Cole (pictured, left) led a Jacksonville delegation that included State Attorney Harry Shorstein and two members of the Duval County School Board to visit the Pueblo schools to learn how the program worked and study how they may be able to reproduce its success in Jacksonville.

Shorstein, who is nationally recognized for his juvenile crime-fighting efforts, calls the reading initiative "an unparalleled opportunity...to make the most fiscally conservative, ethical and moral reform to the future of our community -- teaching children to read."

"Reading Minds" was funded in part by the City of Jacksonville and the Wayne and Patricia Hogan Foundation.

Contributing sponsors were the W.C. and Susan Gentry Foundation and Russell B. Newton Jr., a member of the Alliance for World Class Education. The Schultz Center for Teaching and Leadership, Inc., is also providing assistance.

"Reading Minds" is the second production of Gianoulis' documentary company, TV Verité, which creates community-oriented programming for WJXT. The company's first production, "One Mind at a Time," earned a Suncoast Emmy Award.

The company is headed by Deborah Gianoulis, best known for her 25 years as co-anchor of Channel 4's Eyewitness News at 6 p.m.

In 2000, Gianoulis earned the distinguished Peabody Award for producing "Behind Closed Doors," a documentary on domestic violence.

She retired from the anchor desk last May to create documentaries on issues of local and national concern.