StoryBook Treasures

Research shows that illiteracy is an underlying cause of incarceration, homelessness, welfare dependency, and many other barriers people face to living a happy, productive, and fulfilling life. If students are not reading on grade level by the 3rd grade, they typically never catch up, setting them up for a life of poverty and struggle. According to data from the National Institute for Literacy, National Center for Adult Literacy, The Literacy Company, and the U.S. Census Bureau, 85% of juvenile offenders have problems reading, 3 out of 5 people in American prisons can’t read, and 3 out of 4 people on welfare can’t read.

StoryBook Treasures has created an innovative, cutting edge program to outsmart the symptoms of poverty through our early intervention literacy curriculum designed specifically for academically at-risk students. We work exclusively with Title 1 (government identified schools servicing children living in poverty) elementary schools, specifically grades PreK to 3rd to change these students lives by putting books into their hands, hearts, and homes.

I am applying for The Elevate Prize because I know we are changing lives. Winning The Elevate Prize would give our organization further exposure and critical funding to continue our growth and increase impact.

My name is Denise Corbo, I am a recently retired educator and currently serve as an elected official on our district’s school board. While seeking ways to engage all of my students and their families in literacy, I created the StoryBook Treasures program in my kindergarten classroom. After every student single one of my students received a perfect score on the end of the year literacy test (PALS) I instantly knew I needed to find a way to share my program and technique with other teachers. In 2012, in addition to teaching I took a part time job as a limo driver to generate funds to start StoryBook Treasures. 

As a struggling student, I never dreamed my career, passion, and life would be in education. I have been blessed with an outstanding career earning the highly recognized National Board Teacher Certification, Washington Post Teacher of the Year, and was recognized with a Commonwealth of Virginia Resolution highlighting my contributions to literacy and education.

Outside of education, I spend my time learning all there is to know about leading a national literacy nonprofit and building a sustainable infrastructure with the goal of reaching as many children and families as possible. 

StoryBook Treasures is an all-inclusive literacy program where educators are putting books into the hearts, hands, and homes of children. In just 6 years our program has grown from 200 students to over 14,000 students across 5 states. Our program has doubled in size each year and we attribute the growth to the program’s impact. After 4 years of using the StoryBook Treasures program, literacy scores among 4th graders increased from 60% - 90%. In a time when our nation is facing a literacy crisis, we need StoryBook Treasures now more than ever. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, more than 50% of 4th graders in EVERY single US state is reading BELOW grade level. Without intervention, two-thirds of our students who don’t catch up will land in front of a judge by their 21st birthday. StoryBook Treasures is changing that trajectory.

The innovation behind StoryBook Treasures begins with our team of educators who develop the evidence-based program that incorporates teaching methods, establishing a home to school literacy connection, and providing books for home libraries, the key components to increasing literacy scores among disadvantaged and minority students.

A key feature of the StoryBook Treasures program that is unique and innovative is the impact made by the treasure each student receives with his or her book. These treasures are small, book related tokens that create an emotional connection to each book. These treasures enhance memory recall, encourage positive interactions between the child and their family when reading at home, and strengthen the capacity for creative expression in children.

Another innovate area of the StoryBook Treasures program is our program’s ability to capitalize on the differing strengths and diversity of each student through a commitment to culturally relevant pedagogy, differentiated instruction and rigor. When using the StoryBook Treasures program children spend an entire week five times a year speaking “the same literacy language”, learning from one another through engaging conversations that are based in the same story, while allowing for different interpretations and creative thinking.

StoryBook Treasures is preparing tomorrows leaders by working to close the achievement gap and give students the opportunity to rise to their greatest learning potential. Academically at-risk students living in poverty have little exposure, background, and capacity to build the necessary foundation for reading. By working with these students before they transition from learning to read, to reading to learn, StoryBook Treasures provides them an established background and method of thinking that allows them to excel alongside their more affluent peers.