Growing Together to Expand Literacy Through Technology
The Congregational Collective for Reading and Literacy began in 2019 with financial support from the Urban Child Institute. With our partners at BookNook, the collective emphasizes third grade readiness for kindergarten through fifth grade students. The curriculum focuses on core reading competencies like comprehension, vocabulary, phonics and fluency. Students are encouraged to read alone, challenge each other and participate in team-building exercises led by teachers or volunteers.
Literacy as a Part of Health
This collaboration between BookNook, MLH, and congregation and community groups across Memphis began as a way to address social determinants of health among children and their families. Low health literacy is a key social determinant of health, one of several economic and social conditions that influence differences in health status. The Department of Health and Human Services found that low health literacy levels are associated with increased hospitalizations, greater emergency care use, and higher mortality. Moreover, health literacy is connected to literacy attainment. According to the Center for Public Education, failure to read proficiently by the end of third grade is directly linked to ongoing difficulties in school and failure to graduate high school.
Our Impact
When Covid-19 upended the education system, BookNook quickly pivoted to provide virtual tutoring to complement their tech-based platform. Their positive results nationally, including an average of 3.5 months of literacy progress during the spring school shutdown, sparked an interest in accelerating the program expansion in Memphis, especially within Shelby County Schools BookNook is currently available in several after-school programs, charter schools and Shelby County Schools.
To find a BookNook site or to inquire about how you can access BookNook for your child, contact Janel Bonds at janel@booknooklearning.com.
With the additional educational challenges presented by COVID-19, the BookNook program is even more important to our community. With your support, the BookNook program will continue to expand to students in need across the Mid-South.
"Only twenty-five percent of third-graders in Shelby County are reading at grade level,” said Dr. Stacy Smith, Director of Strategic Innovation with Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare. “Third-grade reading predicts high school graduation rates and future levels of health literacy. We need to ensure these students have access to meaningful resources so they can, for example, understand doctors’ orders and medication instructions to positively influence their personal health outcomes."
Please join Methodist in supporting this important and meaningful program.