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A CASE FOR AN UNRESTRICTED GIFT January 8, 2015
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WHY BOOKSPRING? We launch children into a world of reading
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TWO CLOSELY RELATED SOCIAL PROBLEMS ECONOMIC INEQUALITY In 2010, the top 10% of Texans earned about 48% of all income. - Fort Worth Star- Telegram In Austin, socio-economic separation has steeply increased in past 10 years. – City of Austin INABILITY TO READ In the United States, adult literacy is as low as 65%. - (Department of Education, 2012) In Travis County, the rate of adult illiteracy is estimated at 13%. (TCALL, Texas A&M)
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IN THE U.S. TODAY, 36 MILLION ADULTS CAN'T READ BETTER THAN THE AVERAGE 3RD GRADER. Digital Text: email, instant message, blog, comments, aggregation sites, standard websites, wikis, forums, mailing lists, newsgroups. Traditional Print: letters, mail, forms, books, magazines, pamphlets, essays, poetry, textbooks, fiction, travel guides, meeting notes, signs, code, notes, maps. Medical Communications: consent forms, medicine labels, and health care information, charts, graphs. more at: http://www.proliteracy.org/the-crisis/the-us-crisishttp://www.proliteracy.org/the-crisis/the-us-crisis *http://nces.ed.gov/naal/kf_demographics.asp
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RESARCH SHOWS EARLY INTERVENTION MATTERS A newborn's brain is only about 25% of its adult weight. But by age 3, it has grown dramatically.* *http://www.zerotothree.org/child-development/brain-development/
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BookSpring is unique in that develop the motivation to read in children from birth through elementary school. Intrinsic motivation can be a well-spring for all other kinds of achievement. It can spark a desire to learn about other people, places, and things that can last a lifetime, including better health, employment, and overall quality of life.
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CHILDREN’S ACCESS TO PRINT MATERIALS HAS POSITIVE ACADEMIC AND SOCIAL IMPACTS Improves children’s reading performance Instrumental in learning basic reading Causes children to read more, for a longer time Produces improved attitudes toward reading and learning among children http://rif.org/documents/us/RIFandLearningPointMeta-OnePager.pdf
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ADDITIONALLY, POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS WERE INDICATED IN FOUR ADDITIONAL OUTCOMES: motivation to and interest in reading; writing performance; language development; and academic performance in other subjects. http://rif.org/documents/us/RIFandLearningPointMeta-OnePager.pdf But are in need of future study.
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DEFINITIONS OF MOTIVATION Motivation represents "those psychological processes that cause the arousal, direction, and persistence of voluntary actions that are goal oriented.” (Mitchell, 1982) “Willingness to exert high levels of effort towards organizational goals, conditioned by the effort's ability to satisfy some individual need.” (Robbins, 1993)
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BOOKSPRING INSPIRES THE MOTIVATION TO READ IN AUSTIN CLIENTS Infants to age 3 Early childhood Grade school Parents Caregivers PROGRAMS Choice-driven book donations Parent education events Teacher & schools donations Medical community engagement Public awareness
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MOTIVATION ENGAGEMENT KNOWLEDGE CHOICE FREEDOM BOTTOM LINE: EARLY EXPOSURE TO READING WORKS!
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BOOKSPRING’S SOLID RECORD & BROAD REACH 40 years of service to the Central Texas Serves 300 parents, 40,000 children, and distributes 100,000 print books annually Good relationships with school districts and childcare providers Strong and effective volunteer base Solid alliances with other literacy and early childhood service organizations Maintains strategic partnerships with 38 health and social service providers at 116 sites.
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BEST USE OF FUNDS PROCESS OF DETERMINING PROGRAM SUCCESS
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WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE?
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CAN WE MEASURE OR DESCRIBE AN INCREASE IN MOTIVATION TO READ IN CHILDREN? YES! THERE ARE MANY WAYS. qualitative and quantitative methods – stories and spreadsheets standardized academic tests and psychological measures surveys, focus groups, and interviews self-reporting about attitudes and perceptions observation and textual analysis social network analysis to determine the scope of indirect reach
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THE ABILITY TO POINT AND REACH OUT TYPICALLY STARTS AT 3 MONTHS WHAT IS GOING ON IN THIS PICTURE? WHAT DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT? LET’S FIND OUT, TOGETHER!
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FORMATIVE & SUMMATIVE EVALUATION Formative: Evaluates if our programs and services are really providing the effects we intend; Summative: Provides information that shows if the effects we’re having are providing value for the people we serve. Program evaluation vs. formal research: The former is aimed at improving practice, the later is aimed at improving knowledge which guides the practice. Practice informs research, and vice-versa.
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REFLECTIVE PRACTICE = AGILE MISSION-BASED WORK http://www.serviceuserandcarertoolkit.co.uk/steps.html
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THIRD PARTY PROFESSIONALS AND SCHOLARLY RESEARCHERS ARE REALLY IMPORTANT
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OPPORTUNITY FOR CHANGE PRIORITY ISSUES TO ADDRESS
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WHERE WE’VE BEEN AND ARE NOW Total budget has ranged between $500,000 and $750,000 since 1999.* New government funding may be available but will be highly competitive. *http://www.guidestar.org/
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SUGGESTED PRIORITIES For use of gifted funds 1) Sustain and expand current programs 2) Create a public outreach and awareness campaign to keep reading front-of-mind 3) Evaluate programs and act upon findings 4) Initiate 2-3 innovative new “low-cost” pilot projects 5) Keep operational costs low and begin planning for a future endowment campaign
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Total Request $500,000 Current Programs $200,000 Outreach/A wareness $100,000 Program Evaluation $75,000 General Operations $75,000 New Initiatives $50,000 PROJECTED ALLOCATION FOR $500,000 GIFT
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POSSIBLE NEW INITIATIVES THIS FUNDING WOULD ALLOW: A project through retail spaces that cater to low income families. A project designed to enhance reading with pre-writing skills. A project that links reading and acting out books A project focused on English second language development (22+ languages native to AISD students). A project to increase academic performance in subjects other than reading, such as science and math (pattern recognition). A project that compares digital versions of books to print versions. A project designed to increase interactivity between parents and children through storytelling, possibly with use of video.
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STAKEHOLDERS, PARTNERS, AND CHAMPIONS CONTINUE TO LEVERAGE AND GROW NETWORK
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STEWARD AND EVALUATE CURRENT PARTNERS, SPONSORS & FINANCIAL SUPPORTERS Individual, Corporate, Foundation, Government, Non-Profits http://www.bookspring.org/our-story/partners/ http://www.bookspring.org/our-story/partners/ http://www.bookspring.org/2015-read-a- thon/sponsors/ http://www.bookspring.org/our-story/financial- supporters/
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POSSIBLE NEW PARTNERS, FUNDERS, AND DONORS ARTS ORGANIZATIONS (MIND POP, ZACH, BALLET AUSTIN, POLLYANNA THEATRE COMPANY, AUSTIN CREATIVE ALLIANCE, CENTER FOR DIGITAL STORYTELLING) LIBRARIES (UT AUSTIN, WELLS BRANCH) CLOSELY RELATED LOCAL, STATE, and FEDERAL AGENCIES (CITY OF AUSTIN, TEXAS COUNCIL ON DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES, TEA, IES, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES) EXPERIENCE-CENTERED FAMILY AND YOUTH FOCUSED BUSINESSES (LEGO, SIMON MALLS, FIESTA FOODS, HEB, SCHLITTERBAHN) ACADEMIC CENTERS AND INDEPENDENT EVALUATORS (UT, A&M, AEA)
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AND MOST IMPORTANTLY…
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Presented by Emily Ball Cicchini emilyballcicchini@utexas.edu Twitter: @emicic www.oldstoriesnewmedia.com www.bookspring.org
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