Rallying School Communities Around Reading Goals
Beanstack’s district and school reading goals are one of the most effective ways to grow engagement and build a culture of reading in your school community. Our data shows that students logged double the reading minutes on Beanstack sites with a goal compared to sites without a goal.
Whether you’re a district administrator or a media specialist at a school, read on to learn how to set your goal, get the word out, and celebrate when you reach it!
First, set your goal
We’ve created a simple formula for setting your first school-year-long goal based on research and experience with our partners:
School-year goal:
Student population x 100 minutes = your year-long minutes reading goal
Shorter time spans:
Student population x 10 minutes x month(s) = your minutes reading goal
This formula works for either a school or a district. If you’re using Beanstack district-wide, set a shared district goal and break it down for each school building. For example, a district with 25,192 students would set a goal of 2,519,200 minutes—which you’d likely round that down slightly to an even 2.5 million minutes. You can also create corresponding school-level goals using the same formula.
If you’re starting later in the year or setting a goal for a shorter period of time, you should adjust accordingly using our month-based formula. The key is to set a goal that’s achievable—but still ambitious and exciting. For subsequent years, you can choose to maintain the same goal or increase it based on your first year’s engagement.
Head to this how-to article to learn how add a school-wide goal to Beanstack or this article to learn how to create a district-wide goal.
Next, get the word out
- Tie the goal to a school-year-long challenge: Aligning your goal to a challenge ensures students’ understand how they contribute to the goal. Beanstack annually creates new year-long challenge templates to make this easy!
- Engage your administration: At the district level, engage your superintendent and other district leaders to help promote your goal. At the school level, engage your principal. Plan a community-wide celebration for when you complete your goal, and ask for their help. Is your principal or superintendent willing to get in a dunk tank or be duct-taped to the wall? Use reaching your goal as an opportunity to emphasize the importance of literacy in your district and keep the excitement going for students.
- Make it visible: Add the school-wide goal to your Beanstack site by following the steps in this article or utilize our customizable thermometer poster for an in-school visual. Try to create a constant reminder of your goal for your students and staff.
Finally, celebrate success!
- Track your progress: Keep your school or district up-to-date on progress towards your goal using Beanstack’s insights and reports.
- Maintain momentum: For a district implementation, celebrate schools as they hit their individual goals throughout the year to keep up the momentum! Announce their achievements internally and on social media, and highlight the work of your media specialists to their administrators.
- Share your wins: Celebrate when you hit your goal! Share with everyone: schools and/or district administrators, teachers, parents, and especially your students.
And if you need help setting up your reading goal, contact your school success manager today!