According to GCPS Kindergarten Readiness Entry Profile, in 2019 52% of GCPS students entered kindergarten unprepared. With the COVID-19 pandemic closing early learning centers, a drop in the registration numbers for early learning classes and the library unable to host in person programming we saw this as an opportunity to leverage an existing program, our Beanstack 1000 Books Before Kindergarten challenge and expand it into an early literacy program parents can access from home.

This fall GCPL launched an early learning program in partnership with GCPS, using Beanstack and social media. Families earn badges by completing early literacy activities, reading 1000 books and attending GCPL or GCPS programs. The gamification of early literacy encourages participation. Social media allows us to host supporting programs and embed the posts within Beanstack. The partnership with GCPS ensures we are supporting the same standards, all with the goal of increasing the number of kids ready for kindergarten.

We can track participation numbers, video views and attendance numbers, but ultimately we want to help increase the percentage of children ready for school. Because of our GCPS partnership, we’ll be able to see if participation correlates to higher scores on kindergarten readiness assessments. We will be able to track how many of our participants register for GCPS’ early learning classes. We’re able to support their curriculum directly through our programming, increasing their reach beyond their registered families.