Nebraska Growing Readers: Increasing Book Access and Early Literacy Behaviors

“While it makes sense that more books in the hands of more youth would likely mean better literacy outcomes, we wanted demonstrable results to show just how much that return on the investment actually was….[We] had some promising early results from an external study of the program. This was critical in sustainability, as our partners at Nebraska Children and Families Foundation deepen and broaden their impact. Nebraska Growing Readers provides a model for this kind of work, investing in a promising practice, studying it, finding ways to sustain it, and leveraging public and private funding to keep that progress moving.

 Each day, our growing readers’ work continues. We are steps closer to eliminating book deserts, improving family literacy practices, and putting our youngest learners on a path for success.”

– Commissioner Brian L. Maher, Ed.D., Nebraska Department of Education

Commissioner Brian L. Maher, Ed.D., of the Nebraska Department of Education, set the stage for the conversation by talking about the goals of the department, how the private-public partnership sustaining Nebraska Growing Readers (NGR) was created, and their commitment to an external study to help understand how the program was making a difference.

Joshua Cramer from Nebraska Children and Families Foundation provided an overview of NGR, which aims to expand access to books, support shared book reading, and increase access to locally tailored content reflecting Nebraska’s diverse population. He also emphasized the importance of a large range of partners and talked about the theory of change leading to successful implementation.

Nebraska Department of Education’s Lane Carr shared some of the first-year accomplishments of the NGR program happening through child care sites, with home visitation programs, outreach to families of incoming kindergartners, and community engagement. Carr also shared highlights from the NGR evaluation procedures and results, which include increased access to books and increased daily reading time.

Stephanni Renn, also with Nebraska Children and Families Foundation, talked about ways that the community has been engaged in NGR through book stands, writer’s workshops, and book gardens. She also shared a short video about one of the locally written books, Maddie and Jeter.

Irene Velez, a participant in Nebraska Growing Readers and an author, talked about the experience of participating in the workshops offered by NGR and described the impact writing a children’s book through the program had on her and her family. She said, “I take my daughters to the library once a week. Ever since I attended this workshop and told them I’m going write a book, they ask me every week, is your book out yet? That’s the first thing they do as we go to the library. They run to the book garden, start going through all these little books and ask, ‘Is your book out yet, Mom?’…Having that unity with your children and the community, overall, it’s such a great experience.”

Moderator Ron Fairchild, with the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, then led the group in a conversation about how the initiative is mobilizing entire communities around family literacy, how NGR fits in with the broader strategy of the Nebraska Department of Education, and the way partnerships throughout the state have helped make the initiative successful.