2023-2024 Guilford County Schools/Greensboro Bound Partnership Review
In the heart of Greensboro, a powerful collaboration is transforming the way students connect with literature. While Greensboro Bound is best known for its annual Literary Festival, the organization’s impact reaches far beyond this marquee event. Through a partnership with Guilford County Schools (GCS), Greensboro Bound is igniting a love for reading in thousands of students.
Read our complete 2023-24 impact report here.
“My favorite thing about Greensboro Bound is the opportunity to meet authors I wouldn’t otherwise have a chance to meet and to be with ‘my people.’”
A Year of Impact
The Guilford County Schools (GCS) partnership involves five programs serving students plus a research initiative exploring the dramatic results of our Authors Engaging Students Program.
1. The Spring Break Reading Challenge
2. The High School Poet Laureate Program
3. The Authors Engaging Students (AES) Program
4. The Pre-K AES Program
5. AES at the Greensboro Bound Literary Festival
Spring Break Reading Challenge
Since its inception in 2020, the Spring Break Reading Challenge has encouraged students to keep reading even when school is out. Each year, 40 students who embrace this challenge are rewarded with gift certificates, allowing them to choose and purchase books that speak to their passions. This simple but powerful program ensures that the joy of reading continues, even during breaks.
High School Poet Laureate Program
For over two decades, the High School Poet Laureate Program has provided a platform for young poets to find their voices. Greensboro Bound proudly sponsors this initiative, which culminates in an annual gathering where selected poet laureates from participating high schools receive mentorship from accomplished poets.
In 2023-2024, Greensboro’s first Poet Laureate, Josephus Thompson III, guided young poets from 14 schools, helping them refine their craft and share their work during the May Greensboro Bound Literary Festival. Each year, a chapbook of the Laureates’ writing is produced and provided to both the Laureates as well as school libraries.
Authors Engaging Students (AES)
The AES program, a cornerstone of our partnership with GCS, Scuppernong Books, and GCS Library Media Services (LMS), is designed to spark a genuine, intrinsic interest in reading among students. By bringing authors directly into classrooms—virtually—AES connects students with the minds behind the books they read, turning reading into an engaging, personal experience.
In the 2023-2024 academic year, the AES program brought 10 authors into 68 GCS schools, engaging over 33,000 students in the fall and an additional 28,000 students in the spring. This represents a year-over-year growth of 21% in school participation and a 16.9% increase in student participation, underscoring the growing impact and popularity of the program. The authors selected for these visits were chosen with a focus on representation—60% of them were non-White, aligning with the diverse demographics of the GCS student body, of which 71% are non-White. This emphasis on representation is crucial; when students see themselves reflected in the stories they read, they are more likely to develop a lasting love for reading.
The impact of AES is not just theoretical; it is quantifiable. Schools that participated in the AES program experienced an 84% increase in library circulation compared to non-participating schools. This is a significant improvement from the previous year, which saw a 35% higher circulation in participating schools. The increase in circulation is a clear indicator that students are not only engaging with the program but are also choosing to read more on their own when they have the opportunity to connect with authors.
To further support this reading engagement, Greensboro Bound provided over 1,400 books to GCS school libraries during the 2023-2024 school year. These books were carefully selected to match the authors who visited, ensuring that when a student’s interest was piqued by an author, they could immediately access that author’s work. This strategic placement of books in libraries accounted for 21.6% of all new books added to GCS libraries that year, significantly enhancing the resources available to students.
The AES program’s ability to increase student engagement and boost library circulation highlights its success in fostering a culture of reading within GCS. By continuing to invest in and expand this program, Greensboro Bound is helping to build a foundation for lifelong literacy in the community.
Pre-K AES
Recognizing the importance of early literacy, Greensboro Bound expanded the AES program to include pre-K students through a collaboration with GCS Early Learning, Ready for School, Ready for Life (Ready/Ready), and Scuppernong Books. This program introduces young learners to the joy of reading through carefully selected books and engaging author presentations. Pre-K AES has been adopted by GCS Early Learning as an integral part of its pedagogy. In 2023-2024, every pre-K classroom in GCS—over 1,500 students—participated in the Pre-K AES program. The featured book, “Henry the Boy” by Molly Felder, offered students an empowering story of self-acceptance and resilience, told by an author who uses a wheelchair herself.
AES at the Greensboro Bound Literary Festival
AES authors were featured at the May 2023 Greensboro Bound Literary Festival, bringing the excitement of meeting an author to the festival’s youngest attendees. The 2024 festival built on this success, with four AES authors participating and hundreds of children receiving a free book, personally signed by the author. Partnerships with Casa Azul, Ready/Ready, GreenHill Center for North Carolina Art, and other community organizations created a vibrant, family-friendly environment that celebrated literature in all its forms.
The partnership between Greensboro Bound and Guilford County Schools is a testament to the power of community-driven initiatives. Through programs like AES, we are not just fostering a love of reading—we are building a foundation for lifelong learning and literacy. With an investment of just $0.75 per student per author encounter, the return on investment in terms of student engagement and literacy is extraordinary.
As we look to the future, we invite you to join us in this mission. Your support can help us reach even more students, provide more books, and bring more authors into the lives of young readers. Together, we can ensure that every child in Guilford County has the opportunity to discover the joy of reading.
Read about our Action Research Initiative and 2024-25 goals by clicking here.