Pages to Snack on: Machine to Boost Student Literacy After Covid.

MORGANTON, NC (WNN) - As the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, children are having a difficult time catching up. Reports have expressed concerns about education in a post-pandemic world. Some schools have enacted creative solutions for increasing student literacy.

According to a report by the Harvard Graduate School of Education, children across demographics are having trouble catching up to their grade levels. The study showed that, on average, students in grades three to eight lost half a year of learning.

This deficit has affected many students' abilities to read and solve grade-level math problems. The report from Harvard indicated that a year after the pandemic students got 30% caught up to speed. However, in the years after, the rate has slowed significantly. 

The Center for School and Student Progress released a study indicating that the average student needs more than four additional months of school to get caught up to grade level. 

Educators across the United States have struggled to get their students up to speed. Star Baughman, the librarian for Hillcrest Elementary School in Morganton, North Carolina, notes that some of her students are affected by the COVID-19 catch-up. 

"We have noticed a struggle, but we also know in our community we have a lot of beginning English language learners here. We have a huge population and they already face those issues as well, so COVID-19 did impact us that way,"said Baughman. 

While the post-pandemic slump does not discriminate against those impacted, students who are not native English speakers have faced additional challenges, as seen in Morganton.

According to the United States Census Bureau, 20% of the Morganton population are native Spanish speakers. Additionally, almost 20% of its population lives in poverty. 

A lack of resources is another factor that impacts the ability to learn. Baughman said that books are a luxury expense many parents can not afford. Additionally, many could not afford the technology on which remote learning depended.

Recent graduate and new educator Katherine Riddle experienced this trend while working as an intern in 2022. 

She worked with second-grade and eighth-grade classes in rural mountainous areas of North Carolina, where nearly 30% of the population lives in poverty, according to the United States Census Bureau.

"I could kind of see it in fifth grade and I talked to some other teachers about it. COVID-19 did kind of play a role, especially with some students not being able to get the learning they needed at home during that time, because they didn't have access to devices or internet," said Riddle.

In both instances, Riddle and Baughman have observed the need to help their students and the parents of their communities. To do so, both educators have creative ideas to inspire the kids. 

Baughman spearheaded a unique initiative at Hillcrest Elementary to get more books into her students' homes. Hillcrest now operates a book vending machine that kids can use for free. 

It took a year and a half for this project to come to fruition. Baughman found inspiration from a former co-worker whose granddaughter had a book vending machine at her school in Georgia.

"We were like, 'My gosh, that's amazing.' So myself and our wonderful bookkeeper, Penny Smith, we were like, "We've got to figure out how to get one of these for our school," said Baughman. 

The community rallied behind the educators of Hillcrest for the vending. Former students from VanNoppen Marketing felt inspired to fund the majority of this project. 

Other contributions came from community members. Word of what Hillcrest wanted to accomplish spread quickly due to Penny Smith's advocacy. Smith also contacted the Dolly Parton Imagination Library to provide books for the machine. 

" wears all sorts of hats. One of her specialties is reaching out to community members, to organizations and saying, hey, this is our need, this is our community. This is what we're trying to do." said Baughman. 

It took a village and a significant amount of time, but Hillcrest successfully installed the vending machine in November. The installation took place over a long weekend, allowing educators time to prepare it for the students. 

Hillcrest staff worked tirelessly to encourage excitement for the new addition to their school. Due to the timing of the installation, the teachers wrapped the vending machine like a Christmas present and announced that "The Grand Unwrapping" would take place on December 7, 2023.

"They didn't even know we were working on this project. It has been top secret since we began because we wanted it to be a surprise," said Baughman. 

The books will be free. Students will acquire the books by earning tokens that will feed the machine. Children can earn tokens by doing good deeds and being upstanding students, incentivizing additional learning and kindness.

Baughman hopes that this initiative inspires her students to read even more. Something unique about Hillcrest students is their love of nonfiction books.

"They crave life experiences and nonfiction meets that goal. I feel like this will inspire them even more to read, knowing that, hey, if I continue to work hard and do my best, I'm going to be able to be rewarded with something I love," said Baughman.

The machine's unwrapping went smoothly. 15 students attended in person and classrooms broadcasted a Zoom call. Excited chatter could be heard behind classroom doors as students waited for the wrapping paper to be torn.

Each in-person student participated in unwrapping the machine. Together, they tore into the paper, revealing their prize. The kids were beyond excited about the surprise.

The children know how momentous this occasion is and how unique their school is for providing them this vending machine. This is the only book vending machine in Burke County. In an email, Baughman mentioned that the kids expressed gratitude after the unwrapping.

"The students are loving it. One of our sweeties said, "Mrs. Baughman, we are making history," she emailed.

North Wilkesboro Elementary School recently hired Riddle, and she will start teaching when the students return from winter break. She is excited to initiate some classroom protocols to encourage reading among her students. 

"I really want to create a classroom library that is cozy and fun for students to enjoy reading at. I want them to be able to pick books that they're interested in." said Riddle. 

She also wants to bring more fun into the comprehension side of reading to ensure her students can grasp the information. In her experience, she said kids have fun when completing hands-on activities relating to the books they read. For example, acting out the books as skits.

"Kids really enjoy getting up and moving around … those are things I want to incorporate in my future classrooms," said Riddle.

She will be teaching kindergarten in the coming weeks, and cannot wait to set up her classroom for the kids. Both Riddle and Baughman take pride in their passions for encouraging their students to enjoy learning. 

Educators are finding ways to close the learning gaps. An important sentiment from the Harvard study is that this gap will not close on its own. It will take initiatives beyond normalcy to improve learning abilities. 

Initiatives like the book vending machine demonstrate that educators will go to great lengths to get their kids caught up. However, educators are not the only ones putting in the effort. Despite challenges, students work hard to conquer the COVID-19 catch-up one book at a time.

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