Alba-Golden Elementary is preparing to participate in a new literacy program that will send books home with students for families to read together.
“Meaningful change doesn’t require complicated solutions. It begins with one book, one caring adult, and one conversation repeated day after day,” said Shelly Self, founder and chair of the Read Me A Story Foundation (RMASF).
The Mineola-based nonprofit, founded earlier this year, focuses on increasing access to books for students at Title I schools. According to data provided by RMASF, 48% of Texas children are not academically or developmentally ready for kindergarten, while 40% to 44% of early elementary students in Oklahoma enter school with at-risk reading proficiency.
The foundation says those statistics, along with research on what is sometimes called the “million-word gap,” helped lead to development of its book-sharing program.
Alba-Golden was chosen as a pilot campus in part because of connections between district leaders and members of the RMASF board. The foundation focuses on small, rural Title I campuses, which RMASF officials say may have less grant-writing capacity and access to major funding sources.
RMASF is partnering with four schools in East Texas and southeast Oklahoma, with Alba-Golden and Rattan Elementary serving as the primary pilot campuses.
Under the program, RMASF provides an eight-month rotation of 200 storybooks, divided into monthly classroom kits. Students select a book each afternoon to take home and are encouraged to read it with their families before returning it the next day. Another book then goes home in its place.
RMASF board member Bill Self, who presented the program at a recent Mineola Kiwanis meeting, has more than 30 years of experience in Texas public schools. He has taught students from kindergarten through 12th grade and said his experience showed him how gaps in vocabulary and background knowledge in the early grades can affect students later in school.
Self said the program is not a reading curriculum and is not intended to replace instructional programs already in use at the school. Instead, it is designed to give students additional access to books and opportunities to read with family members at home.
Alba-Golden will begin with first-grade book kits once sponsorship for the program is complete. With continued funding, second-grade kits would be added next year and kindergarten kits the following year, bringing the program to all three grade levels within three years. Self said the timeline could be shortened if additional funding becomes available.
RMASF plans to collect feedback from administrators, teachers, families and students several times during the year to evaluate participation, ease of use and areas for improvement.
Self said the program is intended to give families greater access to children’s books while encouraging parents and children to read together, “providing a positive option that builds connection and confidence.”
More information about the Read Me A Story Foundation is available at rmastory.org or info@rmastory.org.