Ten actions that build strong reading cultures within school communities
It’s settled. No question about it. Reading proficiency is the most reliable predictor for academic success in K-12 students.
A child who is surrounded by reading, both at home and school, is more likely to read and become a proficient reader.
Below are ten practices that highly effective schools engage to build a culture of reading among administration, teachers, aides, parents, and—most all–students. All these practices can be deployed in any school environment.
One need not engage all ten practices at once. But, it’s important to consider all of these and see how each one can have a place in your school community.
The ten practices have been placed into a poster that you can download, edit and display. The posters are at the bottom of this article.
1. Establish a Shared Goal
An engaged staff is essential to building a reading culture. It starts with leadership training and re-training on the benefits of reading proficiency. Don’t assume that everyone “gets it.” Train on what current research shows and where your school stands in terms of standardized proficiency measures. Facts are good allies in this step.
Involving parents and parent organizations into the discussion is very important. Invite a core group of parents to the discussions to take input and generate buy-in.
Once everyone is aware of the challenge and the goal of building a reading culture, solicit input from everyone regarding what reasonable goals can be and what specific responsibilities each person has in the effort
2. Say It!
“Here at Jefferson Elementary, we are readers!”
Communicate your goal often and everywhere possible. Once you have a shared vision and goal, share it with your families, and community. Make a reading mission statement that is posted as a big banner, poster or the like at the school, put on newsletters, social media, email messages and flyers that go home. Never miss an opportunity to remind everyone that you school is filled with readers.
Don’t let the reading goals recede into the background. Keep them top-of-mind for everyone in the building. If leadership loses sight of the goal, everyone else soon follow. If your goal is neglected by stakeholders, it will be nearly impossible to recover.
3. Teach Listening
The best tool to build a reader is an attentive pair of ears. Teachers, librarians and aides need to be trained to identify the reading challenges of every student. Knowing what each student needs will allow teachers, aides and parents to act with precision and confidence.
Students need to feel like stakeholders in creating reading culture. Empower them to decide which books they read. An attentive educator will guide individual students toward reading materials that align with preferences and ability.
Work with teachers, aides and volunteers to ask students of all ages about their interests. As you guide students toward reading material that fall within their interests, you will find success.
We have a guide regarding how to best user your ears to teach reading here.
4. Goal-Based Reading Programs
A quality reading program can keep reading front-and-center in the home and classroom.
Teachers can develop challenging, yet attainable goals for groups of students that engage them in a tangible goal.
Many schools and libraries are finding that the trusty paper reading calendar does not work well with today’s digitally-oriented parents. There are excellent web-based systems that take reading programs into the 21st century for today’s families. One system that is free for schools and libraries is called Reader Zone.
By providing a reading program that parents and readers are excited to participate with will make the difference between a passable reading program and a great one.
5. Parent Book Club
Children model observed behavior. Creating an opportunity for parents to dive into books can be an excellent way to show that reading is important to everyone.
Appoint a staff member or a parent volunteer to manage a parent book club. The book club doesn’t have to meet in person on a regular basis. A school Facebook page or Twitter account can be an excellent way to select books and have discussion regarding the books among readers.
Ensure that students know there is a book club for their parents. A little pressure from a student for Mom and Dad to join is a good thing. As TVs in your school boundaries get a break, reading scores will improve.
6. Reading-Based Fundraising
Instead of selling cookie dough, wrapping paper or the like, hold reading-based events that create incentives to read.
There are many excellent options to carry out reading-based fundraisers. readathons can be excellent fundraisers—they generally earn a lot and are much easier to manage than frozen foods, coupon books, etc.
Online book fairs work very well as they allow you to carry out a reading-based fundraiser without all the inconvenience of a conventional book fair.
Aside from being efficient fundraising tools, reading events further encourage reading and create positive experiences around reading.
7. Arrange an Author Visit
Children’s authors generally spend a lot of time on the road visiting schools. Just about every publisher has a public relation team that can arrange a visit with an author, usually at very little cost to the school.
An author visit can be an amazing experience for students. Students find strong motivation to read a book or books both before and after meeting an author. You can learn about arranging an author visit here.
Meeting an author can be a life-changing event for a student. Seeing an engaging personality speak to their school shows them that adults truly care about reading and education.
8. Read-Aloud Magic
Schools are under immense pressure to perform and every minute of the school day counts. However, every classroom can find time for read-aloud sessions.
Group reading is a well-researched activity with definitive results. Students who participate in a read-aloud time—even up through 8th grade, show higher reading proficiency scores, lower stress and anxiety levels and a stronger sense of community with classmates.
If read-aloud time cannot be consistent, find dedicated time for reading only.
The definitive book on read-aloud practices can be found here.
9. Keep the Library Full
Create a habit of students visiting a library. Every student should feel at-home in the library and see it as a second-home. You might need to loosen some rules to make your library more welcoming and a part of a child’s daily routine.
The library tends to be one of the largest rooms in the building. How often is your library filled with students? If it’s empty for more than a few minutes during the school day, it’s under-used.
Find opportunities to host events of all kinds in your library. Bring students in as much as possible. This means keeping it open after school for students to come in and browse books or read.
10. What Works for You?
Examine what is unique to your school community and amplify what’s working. I am aware of a school in Idaho where the principal committed to shaving his head if the combined student body read 1 million minutes in a semester. He made good on the promise and it was a memorable event for the entire community.
Be patient, learn from what works and adapt. Building a culture takes time and persistent effort.
Every school community is different. The tactics above are open and available to all. But, may not work well in every situation.