Kindles4Covid Remote-Reading Buddy Program

The virtual reading buddy program Kindles4Covid encourages children to read and increase their connections to combat reading loss and lack of social connections due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Participants sign up for the program. They will then be paired with a reading buddy. Bykids4kids will be collaborating with local organizations like Girls Group, My Brother’s Keeper, and the Washtenaw County Youth Detention Center. Once groups are formed, the youth will be able to read, talk and connect with their peers. The program is virtual via zoom and google meet.   Each buddy pair will be assigned to a facilitator. The  facilitators (high school and/or college student aged) will enable interactions among buddies. The pairs will be selected according to age, schedules, and personal preferences.  To ensure participants have equitable access to a variety of books we will be distributing Kindle Fires and school supplies to participants.

The buddies will read their selected books during the week and meet once a week for approximately one hour on zoom or google meet.  This will continue for 10 weeks.  During these meetings the pairs will  discuss their readings with assistance from their facilitator.  When a pair finishes reading three books, their facilitator will reward them with  a free small pizza sponsored by Pizza House Restaurant. Pairs will work together to create videos and/or book reports to show what they learned.

According to data from the AACF (Ann Arbor Community Foundation), Washtenaw County is the 8th most economically segregated metropolitan region in the country. Further, 60% of African-Americans live in low-income neighborhoods. During the Covid-19 pandemic, youth  have been isolated. In addition, maintaining reading skills has been challenging for kids. Schools are quite variable in the engagement and resources provided to students in these challenging times. This disproportionately affects children from  families of low income and has the potential of further widening the economic and racial gap. Disparities in access to computers, home internet connections, and in-person instruction further widen the gap. High school dropout rates are likely to increase and younger children will miss out on essential reading and math foundations. 

We hope to tackle these issues by offering a virtual reading buddy program- Kindles4Covid. This program will not only encourage children to read, by providing them resources (i.e. kindles to those in need as well as age appropriate books), but also provide a much needed opportunity to bond with peers. According to Scholastic, when given reading resources, as many as 50% of children maintain and even achieve reading gains.

We recently met with the local chapter of My Brother’s Keeper (organization that addresses the opportunity gap facing boys of color) and the Washtenaw County Youth Detention Center. We are planning to collaborate with these organizations to further our reach. Our hope is to provide all youth with equal opportunity to connect with each other and to improve literacy. 

The target population are all youth (K-12). The Youth Lead organization ByKids4Kids, Girls Group, and Michigan Foster Care Closet have collaborated to recruit a diverse pool of participants. Our focus is on strengthening community bonds and increasing the literacy levels. The U.S. Department of Education (et al 2001), states that "providing supplemental opportunities to enhance reading fluency and comprehension gives young readers a legitimate reason to reread text and to practice reading." To ensure everyone has equitable access to a variety of books we’ll be distributing Kindle Fires and school supplies. The mission of this program is to give children the opportunity to make friends and meet peers who they may not have a chance to meet with otherwise. Also, the program aims to improve literacy by providing resources and a fun environment. Since it's a virtual program, we have been able to expand the demographic composition and branch out to additional communities.

Our last session included:   25.5% Asian, 25.9% Black, 29.6% White, 7.4% Native American, 3.7% Black & Indian, and 7.4% Middle Eastern.   Age range  last session was 7.5% -9 yrs old, 3.4 % -10 years old, 20.6 % -11 years old, 17.2 % -10 years old, 20.7% -14 years old, 3.4 %-15 years old, 3.4%- 17-year-old. ByKids4Kids’ participants currently attend more than 13 area schools.

We also hope to create long lasting connections and a means for buddies to stay in touch after the program ends.

The Kindles4Covid Virtual Reading Buddies Program was created in collaboration with Girls Group organization. The purpose was to combat potential reading regression and social isolation in youth during the COVID-19 pandemic in the fall and winter of 2020. The program consisted of groups of 2-3 reading buddies, along with a facilitator who coordinated meetings for the buddies, and assisted in choosing a piece of literature to read during the meetings. Pre and post surveys consisting of short-answer and multiple choice questions were administered to participants to determine whether the goals of improving reading frequency and connections with peers were achieved. We hypothesized that routine, weekly contact with other youth and increased exposure to reading materials would help achieve these goals. Comparison survey results of respondents using a McNemar’s Test, indicated an increase in both reading and connectedness with peers based on difference in pre and post test results (p=0.044). In the pre-survey, 37.5% of participants stated that their reading had decreased since school transitioned to a virtual environment. Additionally, prior to the program, only around a third (37.5%) of the respondents were feeling connected with other youth during the pandemic. The post-survey showed that all respondents (8/8, 100%), perceived an increase in their reading and social connections. These data suggest that our program was able to achieve its goals of maintaining and increasing reading frequency and forming connections. This implies that a structured and routine reading buddies program addressed some challenges brought on by the isolation during the pandemic.

I chose Growth as our stage of development. ByKids4Kids organization has an established product and service. We have demonstrable results in our program. Through our programs, you improved literacy and made connections. ByKids4Kids donated over 1000 books to CAN (Community Action Network, Generosity Project, and Girls Group). We distributed 90 Kindle Fires to youth in need during the pandemic. The Kindle Fires allowed the kids access to a variety of books. As a result, youth have been able to download free books from the Ann Arbor Public library and the Libby App. The Kindle Fires enable youth to communicate with their reading groups via zoom. The Kindles4Covid program helps youth increase their reading. Strengthening literacy will help youth gain access to an equitable education with unlimited opportunities. We were also able to create an equity in Education Scholarship. The scholarship was created to raise awareness about the issue and to help give everyone an equitable opportunity. The scholarship was intended for students ages 13-18 who are experiencing financial hardships related to educational expenses.  

The technology we are using is with Kindle Fire tablets. To ensure everyone has access to a variety of books we distribute Kindle Fire tablets to those in need. Anyone who attends AAPS is eligible for books in the Ann Arbor Public library. Others can opt to use the Libby app. The library participates in an eBook and eAudio lending service called OverDrive. You may borrow up to 15 items at a time for a lending period of up to 21 days.  We tracked the reading level and emotional growth of participants by administering weekly, pre, and post-surveys. We will offer an end of session contest. Each group has the option to create a project (movie trailer, book report, artwork, GoogleSlides/Prezi presentation or advertising) that is relevant to their remote buddy sessions and book. The project is meant to motivate kids to be creative and foster a sense of community and team work that will encourage social growth as they transition into adulthood.  

Multiple studies cite inequality of access to online learning tools as a major contributor to the achievement gap among socio-economic groups, with one researcher calling it "the quiet epidemic," Johnson 2012. Studies have proven that providing a no-cost online support tool is an effective way to overcome this barrier and narrow the reading gap. With the Kindles4Covid program we use technology through the use of Kindle Fire tablets. Children interact-while reading together.

Each 10 week session consists of 60 buddy pairs for a total of 120 participants each session. We have had 3 sessions, making the total participants served 360. We anticipate to have 3 more sessions which would add 360 more people. Total anticipated population served is 720 by the end of the year.  

Impact Goals

Goal 1:  Increase children's quality of education 100% by year one of reading buddy programming. Pre-post survey evaluation with be administered at the start and end of the 10 week session.  

Goal 2:  Reduce inequalities by increasing community connections 100% by year one of reading buddy programming.

Goal 3:  Secure partnerships with Girls Group and CAN organizations with the goal to recruit 20 youth from these programs each session.

Reading Buddies were recruited as volunteers from the Kindles4Covid Virtual Reading Buddies Program, and were invited to participate through a pre-post survey (an email with information and a flyer). If interested, the parent or guardian was asked to email back “Yes”, and sign off on a digital version of the Human Informed Consent Form. The form contained the purpose of our study, what they should expect if they consent, a brief synopsis of the program, and information for contacting the members of the evaluation study. Participants, and their parents, were asked to provide permission with the assurance that records of their permission will be stored in a protected folder separate from the data, with secured access. A week before the program began, a pre-survey was sent out to 64 participants, to which 13 responded. Towards the culmination of the program, a post survey was sent out, and 13 participants responded, some of whom were different from the pre-survey. Survey data was extracted from the study only if the informed consent form was signed for a participant. All feedback surveys were developed and reviewed by members of the Kindles4Covid Virtual Reading Buddies Program team with support from advising adult mentors. Once the program ended, the team worked on organizing the data. 

We have a financial barrier. Funding for staff, Kindle Fire tablets, and school supplies allows us to carry out the program. However, our organization has had a difficulty with acquiring a means to have stable financial resources for our program.   

We are a group of 13 youth board members who began ByKids4Kids Community Partners in 2017. Our board members come from various- diverse backgrounds and high and middle schools in the Ann Arbor area. This helps us understand the needs of youth as a collective in Ann Arbor. Since its inception we have been recruiting general Bykids4kids members. Members contribute $20 as a membership fee.  We currently have 240 members.  We are able to recruit facilitators for each session primarily through advertisements placed in  University of Michigan's University Connections Connections, Volunteermatch.com, NextDoor. In the future we plan to work with third grade teachers to help recruit participants.  

The Kindles4Covid program goals are to improve the reading skills of children (4th grade- 12th grade) and to be at the forefront of our communities educational equity initiatives, and to engage our community by supporting kids through literacy and youth leadership and to begin expanding this literacy network across the country via online connections. 70% of Kindles4Covid participants are students of color. In order to address the needs of the marginalized communities we serve, The organization has maintained a diverse youth representation on the Youth Board.  For instance,  ages of the Youth Board range from 6th grade-12th grade, gender range-  5 females to 7 males.  Furthermore, the youth represent 5 public and private schools in and near Ann Arbor.  ByKids4Kids aims to contribute to the national movement for educational equity by making diversity, equity, and inclusion more central to all areas of our work. The Kindles4Covid program fosters an environment for youth success. The program addresses the literacy needs of youth in our community.  Moreover, program survey evaluations found that  81% of the kids increased their reading during the 10-week program.

ByKids4Kids Community Partners has partnered with the following organizations to increase outreach to participants.

Girls Group empowers young women to achieve emotional and economic self-sufficiency by ensuring they graduate from high school and begin their college or career journeys. We partnered with them for our very first Kindles4Covid Reading Buddy Session.  Girls Group helped us recruit their members to participate in the program.

CAN (Community Action Network) partners with children, youth, and families from under-resourced Washtenaw County neighborhoods to create better futures.  Programs that fall under three pillars: Education, Stabilization, and Community.

Children's Literacy Network mission is to design and implement literacy based prograns to provide equitable opportunities for children to develop a love of reading and books.

Youth Detention Center

My Brothers Keeper is a male mentoring program dedicated to providing Straight Talk~ Sound Direction mentoring services to assist boys and men who are dealing with the hardships of life by helping them live with Integrity, Respect and Standards (IRS Code).

Michigan Foster Care Closet is a dedicated community of individuals that give our time, talent and resources to provide the best quality "shopping" environment we can to our local children in need.

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