The following guest opinion column by our board chair, Lynn Wooten, appeared in the News & Record on October 13, 2024.
A recent wire article in the News & Record reported on “Not-so-great expectations: Students reading fewer books,” and conveyed that nationally, more and more students not only are not reading full-length novels, but that English instructors are not assigning them to do so. In a landscape of summaries, easily accessible abridged editions online, printouts of selected passages and other tools that “get you by,” you can still get the gist of the work, leaving extra time to consume more short-form content in a “modern, digital world.”
This goes far beyond the CliffsNotes short-cuts from my decades-old school days.
Why is this a big deal? Because reading – really reading – matters.
As the article pointed out: “Deep reading is essential to strengthen circuits in the brain tied to critical thinking skills, background knowledge – and, most of all, empathy,” according to UCLA neurologist who specializes in dyslexia research. Other abilities, such as strong writing and communication skills, much of which stem from or are improved on by reading, can help future adults in their personal career objectives, which, some have suggested, in turn results in a more robust workforce and economy.
Fortunately, here in Guilford County, there is a unique, groundbreaking program taking place in partnership with Guilford County Schools (GCS) to encourage students in grades pre-K through 12 to read. To really read.
And it’s working.
Greensboro Bound is a local nonprofit established in 2017 whose mission is to encourage and celebrate reading, writers, diverse thoughts and viewpoints for adults and youth, alike. Its annual, and free, Literary Festival is perhaps its best-known offering, having hosted such renowned authors as Amor Towles, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Lee Smith, James McBride, Zadie Smith and more than 400 others. It also provides workshops for aspiring writers as well as fun, engaging literacy-geared activities for children.
But another, expansive program of Greensboro Bound is its Authors Engaging Students program (AES) in partnership with GCS. Through AES, local public schoolchildren have access to writers – both virtually and, at times, in person – whose works anchor wrap-around curriculum plans. Each year, AES connects with these writers to respond to questions and points made by students regarding the books of theirs they’ve read, about writing and more. In addition, AES provides these authors’ books to the school libraries that have voluntarily signed up to participate.
How’s it going? Through AES’s efforts to help ignite a love of reading among local school students, consider these quantifiable outcomes from the 2023-24 academic year:
- AES engaged 61,000 students spread through 68 schools who “got to know” 10 authors and their works;
- This represents a year-over-year growth of 21 percent in school participation and a 16.9-percent increase in student participation, underscoring the growing impact and popularity of the program;
- As a result, AES-participating schools saw an increase of 84 percent in library book circulation compared to non-participants;
- And during the last academic year, Greensboro Bound provided over 1,400 books to GCS school libraries – accounting for more than 21 percent of all new books added then – carefully selected to match the authors who visited and ensuring that when a student’s interest was piqued by an author, that they could immediately access the author’s work.
The AES program’s ability to increase student engagement and boost literary circulation highlights its success in fostering a culture of reading within GCS. By continuing to invest and expand in this program, Greensboro Bound is helping build a foundation for lifelong literacy in our community.
Everything Greensboro Bound does – its festival, AES and more – is provided free to the public. We cannot deliver on our mission without the generous support of individuals, foundations, grantors and more. In an age in which financial resources to schools are ever-shrinking, we encourage local governmental bodies to recognize the potential of our AES program and join us in supporting efforts resulting in a significant difference for our community’s children and future adult residents.
If you would like to learn more about the work of Greensboro Bound or to support it, please visit www.greensborobound.com.
- Lynn Wooten is chair of the Board of Directors of Greensboro Bound.