But he's not headed to a posh Washington, D.C., restaurant to meet with lobbyists or formidable constituents. Instead, he hurries off to spend an hour in the library of a nearby primary school, where he'll be deep in discussion with a 10-year-old girl as they share a school lunch and their love of reading.

Jeffords and his young friend, Sherryl Grant, a fourth-grader at Robert Brent Elementary School, meet every week -- same time, same place. They read books and talk about school, and about Sherryl's plans for the future. It is one of the most important engagements on his busy calendar, Jeffords says.

"It was very difficult getting here today," he conceded, in light of everything else that was on his schedule. "But this hour is very relaxing for me. This is the most rewarding."

Some 440 congressional staff members and about a dozen senators spend an hour each week with students in the District of Columbia schools as part of a program called Everybody Wins. The senators visit with 180 children at Brent Elementary who participate in Everybody Wins. Total enrollment at the school is 220. The other volunteers fan out to nine other public schools across Washington.

Now in its third year in the Washington school system, Everybody Wins pairs U.S. government workers and business professionals with students for mentoring and to give the children a chance to read aloud. It also trains parents to reinforce the importance of reading at home.

Jeffords chairs the Labor and Human Resources Committee of the U.S. Senate, which oversees education. He launched the Washington program after hearing about its success in New York City. A textile executive named Arthur Tannenbaum initiated Everybody Wins after becoming aware of, and concerned about, a decline in the reading performances of public school students across New York City. Tannenbaum approached the principal of a primary school near his office, and asked if he and a few colleagues might spend time reading with the children. He chose the lunch hour, the best time for business people to leave the office, because it did not require children to be removed from the classroom.

Tannenbaum's program has grown to 2,000 volunteers in more than two dozen New York City schools. Both there and in Washington, local business participants help pay for the program's staff, including a salaried coordinator for each school.

The volunteers come religiously. Everybody Wins requires reading partners to commit to a full school year of weekly visits with their assigned pupils. Many volunteers share a student with a colleague or staff member to make sure that someone is on hand every week.

While Jeffords was getting together with Sherryl Grant, Senator Edward M. Kennedy was helping his reading partner, second-grader Jasmine Harrison, carefully chart the books she has read this year. He recalled proudly the number of new words each title has challenged Jasmine to learn, and boasts of her knack for remembering words after seeing them just once.

"I get more out of reading with Jasmine than she does," Kennedy said. "I am here every Tuesday. It's a must."

Kennedy's commitment inspired freshman Senator Mary L. Landrieu to get involved as well. The time she spends in the school has brought new perspective to her work and to its impact beyond Capitol Hill, she said.

"I just didn't think I could do it more than once a month," Landrieu explained. She'd tapped a staff member to read with her partner, Kishell Alexander, on the other occasions. "But now," Landrieu continued, "I would not miss this hour for all the money in Washington. With some things you do on the Hill [as a legislator], you never see the result. But I can come here and see Kishell, and see her progress weekly."

First-grader Kishell was shy when she was asked to talk about herself and about why she enjoys reading. She covered her mouth with her hand and fixed an embarrassed grin on the questioner. But then she began reading to Landrieu, and quickly exuded excitement and confidence.

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Kathleen Kennedy Manzo is a staff writer of Education Week. This article is abridged and reprinted with permission from Education Week, vol. 17, no. 24, March 4, 1998.