Book Connection Program

Independent student reading is a foundational necessity to achieving high levels of literacy (Krashen, 2004), however, in many underserved communities, independent reading is not a habit or discipline that is developed at home and it is also often a missing ingredient in school district’s literacy curriculum. Among adolescents and young adults, reading ability and performance are closely associated with the amount of time they spend reading as well as the type of materials they read (Krisch et. al., 2002). Clearly, students need to read a lot in order to become proficient readers and successful students who are college and career ready.

The Book Connection Program is focused on students in grades K-8. These grades represent a crucial time frame in the development of students’ literacy proficiency. Our goal is to provide support for achieving high levels of literacy achievement and access to high-quality, culturally relevant literature for individuals in underserved communities. We believe that if students are to become better readers, then they must spend time reading (Krashen, 2006; Cullinan, 2011). Organizations selected to participate in the Book Connection Program would benefit from the following:

• Adoption of policy to increase independent student reading.
• Complete library with a minimum of 150 books.
• Professional development and training to increase independent student reading.
• Implementation of a structured independent student reading program.
• Evaluation of policy impact on participants.