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District launches Beanstack reading challenge; goal 2,000 minutes per student and 1 million district minutes
Summary
Lead librarian Diana Coby told the board the district will launch a Beanstack-based reading challenge that asks each student to read 2,000 minutes over the school year and sets a district goal of 1,000,000 minutes.
Diana Coby, lead librarian for CASTLEBERRY INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT, presented a district and community reading initiative that uses the digital tracking platform Beanstack and a set of incentives to raise reading volume and motivate students.
The nut graf: the initiative asks individual students to read 2,000 minutes during the school year (about 15 minutes per day or 300 minutes per month) and sets a district target of 1,000,000 minutes. The program includes a superintendent's challenge, monthly badges and campus-level incentives managed by librarians.
Coby said Beanstack is already familiar to many students and that campuses have set goals scaled to enrollment (the example cited at the meeting: one campus goal of 300,000 minutes because it is the district's largest campus). She described the platform's badge system and a traveling trophy that will be awarded to the campus that reaches the highest minutes-per-student ratio; librarians will manage campus incentives and monthly celebrations such as reading pep rallies.
The librarian said the initiative is intentionally simple: 2,000 minutes is the minimum target that research and district staff expect will improve vocabulary and fluency, and the district will celebrate students who exceed the goal. Coby added that high-school circulation has increased since the district changed device policies and that librarians are working to sustain book circulation while campuses use temporary library space.
Board members asked practical questions about campus targets and community participation; Coby and staff said the superintendent's challenge and Beanstack sign-ups were posted and that ParentSquare messages will inform families. No board action was taken; this was an informational presentation.
Ending: staff invited board members and community participants to register and participate in the superintendent challenge; librarians will provide periodic progress reports to ALT and the board.
