![]() ![]() Why is that the focus, um, why is that sort of your benchmark? And then there's some areas that it's way less than 10%.Īnd talk to me about, I'm wondering if there's a significance around the hundred books, the particular number a hundred. And what percentage of homes had a hundred books in the home? And we found that, um, you know, only 30% of the homes in the United States have a hundred books. So, it was really the benchmark then was a hundred books in the home. ![]() And we worked in some of these areas and it's amazing to us how often that predictability is really accurate. ![]() And he, he put together a formula and we were able to use Esri and take that census data and the NAEP data and predict where we saw book scarcity and all the way down to the census track. And so, I just had someone on my staff, uh, at Unite for Literacy, that's an, that's a master at data. Uh, it was ethnicity, it was geography, it was language spoken in the home. And so we looked at census data, we looked at the NAEP data and we realized that it was more than poverty. But it was really more about what is really happening in the home. So, um, so the combination of those made us think for us, it was about books in the home, you know, with food deserts, its close you are to grocery stores, that sort of thing. And then finally, um, at the same time, the USDA was coming out with a book desert map and, uh, and I just thought, you know, that's a really interesting ideas to make this visual for people. So, you know, looking at those, those two things, uh, really helped us. So, we could, we could kind of start predicting, um, by this, these questions that have been asked for several decades, how many books are in kids' homes, just based on, you know, cause neighbors is, uh, across all 50 States. How many books do you have in your home? And how often do you choose to read for fun? They ask lots of survey questions, but those two really stood out to us. So that was one, uh, the other was, um, we were looking at NAEP Day, the national assessment of educational progress and they had been asking kids forever. And so that was really interesting that she was, you know, her conclusion was that every book matters and you know, you go from 13 books to 16 books, it really makes a big difference in graduation rates, but then curved at about a hundred. And it was all about books in the home and the probability of coming, uh, graduating ninth grade, I think it was like 30% probability if you had obtained from a booklets home, but then the graph went like almost straight up and it curved at about a hundred books. Um, there was one graph in that article that was extraordinary to me, and it was how she predicted, um, graduation rates in 27 countries. One was a article that I read, um, by Mariah Evans, uh, about scholarly culture. Um, it's started probably about 10 years ago, and kind of several different things came together. So, talk to us about that map and how that came to be in the world. Um, so I'm hoping that you can explain Unite for Literacy's mission as well as your really unbelievably cool and informative interactive book desert map, which we will, um, direct listeners to on your website. Um, when I started this podcast back in the summer of 2019. ![]() Well, I feel like our conversation is probably a year in the making in the sense that I knew about Unite for Literacy and your work around coining the term book desert. I am joined today by Mike McGuffey, the founder and CEO of Unite for Literacy. Find other interesting education podcasts at. The End Book Deserts podcast, a part of the education podcast network, just like the show you're listening to now shows on the network are individually owned and opinions expressed may not reflect others. I've created the End Book Deserts podcast so that all children have access to books and reading culture. Molly Ness, lifelong reader book nerd teacher educator. Welcome to End Book Deserts, the podcast featuring the innovative people and programs who work to provide book access to our nations under-resourced areas or overlooked populations. Join me as I chat book access, the book desert map and how COVID as impacted the work of Unite for Literacy. With the mission of creating a world where all children have access to an abundance of books which celebrate their languages and cultivate a lifelong love of reading, Unite for Literacy provides a rich library of digital books. Credited with coining the term book desert Unite for Literacy also has created an interactive book desert map which uses statistical analysis to examine book scarcity. Wondering how the term book deserts was created, this episode features Mike McGuffey, the CEO and founder of Unite for Literacy. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |