Preparing our Children to Succeed

Team # 3
Chaffin, Embher
Delgado, Jesus
Faizan, Hasan-Team Leader
Guduru, Raj
BCOM3311 with Dr. Kyle Steadham
November 18, 2015
The University of Texas at Dallas

Table of Contents

Section 1: Introduction
Section 2: Background & Problem
Section 3: Proposal
Section 4: Plan & Schedule
Section 5: Staffing
Section 6: Budget
Section 7: Success Measures
Section 8: Conclusion
Section 9: References
Section 10: Grading Rubric

Section 1: Introduction

Have you ever imagined not being able to read or write to perform your daily duties at
your job or personal life? Well there are children in our community who need the assistance,
support, and guidance of organizations to prepare them for college and future challenges in the
work force. We believe that the Dallas Regional Chamber and Barnes & Noble Booksellers can
work together to address low literacy rates in South Dallas and give children the opportunity to
read, learn, and succeed. We are proposing to host a one-day event at Kiest Park in South Dallas

and invite students from the four nearby elementary schools to be part of our Read-a-ton. With
the support of the Dallas Regional Chamber our goal is to distribute books among economically
disadvantaged children in the area to encourage reading from an early age and collaborate in
preparing tomorrows leaders by addressing the factors surrounding the area. If this problem is
not addressed the Dallas Independent School District will continue to see decreasing STAAR
reading results and continue damaging the school district reputation. Low literacy is a top
priority in DISD, which is why the district is advocating improving literacy rates by recruiting
volunteers and offering tutoring programs to students who are struggling in the district1. We
believe that the event has the potential to initiate a new cycle in the community and start a
generation that strives for education excellence. Currently the area struggles because of the
language barrier due to the demographics of the city2, childrens parents low education levels,
and poverty. We want to emphasize the low literacy problem and bring awareness to the area to
find a solution.
Barnes & Noble strives to improve the communities we serve by sponsoring different
events nationwide to encourage reading, which is also in line with the DRC education vision plan
of improving the public education in Dallas. Our goal is to make a social difference in every
event we sponsor. To determine the success of this event there will be short term and long term
quantitative metrics such as measuring how many children attended the event and how many
volunteers we were able to recruit to the event. We are asking the Dallas Regional Chamber to
make a $40,000 investment to help us prepare tomorrows workforce and assist DISD students to
become proficient readers to be successful in the classroom. Giving children the opportunity to
1 Hobbs, T. D. (2014, December 1). Dallas ISD seeks literacy tutors to spare an hour per week. The Dallas Morning News
2 State & County QuickFacts (n.d.). In U.S. Census Bureau: State and County QuickFacts. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/48/48113.html

know the importance of literacy at a young age will improve the probabilities of becoming more
educated and better prepared to enter the workforce in the future. Also, improving literacy will
decrease the number of dropouts, poverty, and crimes in the city3. As a result the city will be
benefited because the city will build a better reputation for new businesses to move in.

Section 2: Background & Problem

Barnes & Noble Booksellers is the nations largest retail bookseller. The company was
acquired by Leonard Riggio in the 1970s. Now, the organization operates in 50 states and is an
industry leader when it comes to reading innovations by offering alternative ways to read. Our
mission is, To operate the best omni-channel speciality retail business in America, helping both
our customers and booksellers reach their aspirations, while being a credit to the communities we
serve4, our proposal is a reflection of our statement. Our company annually hosts approximately
100,000 community events nationwide. The purpose of our events is to enrich the minds of
3 Illiteracy & Crime (n.d.). In Literacy Texas. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from
http://www.literacytexas.org/literacy_in_texas/facts_statistics/illiteracy_crime.html

4 Our Company (n.d.). In Barnes & Noble Booksellers. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from
http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/our_company/our_company.html

readers of all ages, and raise funds for local schools and literary and cultural organizations. Our
organization goal is to assist community needs and we believe our event will make a difference
in the community of South Dallas.
The three interrelated factors that we want to address, emphasize, and bring awareness in
our event at Kiest Park are language barriers, parents education, and poverty. The first factor that
contributes to low literacy in the surrounding area elementaries is language barrier, which is a
result of the changing demographics in the area over the last 30 years5. According to the Literacy
Coalition of greater Dallas 40 percent of residents speak a language other than English6. Also, the
statistic by the Literacy coalition of greater Dallas correlates with the total enrolled students
identified as English Language Learners (ELL) in the Dallas Independent School District for the
2014-2015 school year7. Having this high percentage of residents speak another language creates
a language barrier between parents and schools. Reducing the language barrier will increase
parent involvement and student success because according to the National Parent Teacher
Association, children need the inclusion of their parents in order to succeed in the classroom8.
Also, another study by the American Psychological Association in 2012 discovered that latino
students that spoke one language at home and another at school were at an increased risk of
dropping out of high school or graduating late9. Children growing with parents who do not speak
5 Population, Population Change, and Proportion of the Total Population by Race/Ethnicity for Dallas County, Texas, 2000 and 2010 (n.d.). In
U.S. Census 2010, P.L. 94-171.. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from https://www.census.gov/rdo/data/2010_census.html

6State & County QuickFacts (n.d.). In U.S. Census Bureau: State and County QuickFacts. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/48/48113.html

7 EVALUATION OF THE DUAL LANGUAGE AND ESL PROGRAMS: 2013-14 (n.d.). Retrieved November 15, 2015, from
http://www.dallasisd.org/cms/lib/TX01001475/Centricity/Domain/98/Evaluation/13-14/AtaGlance/EA14-126-4-BE-ESL-At-a-Glance.pdf

8 PTA Resolution on Teacher Preparation for Parent/Family Involvement (n.d.). In National PTA. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from
http://www.pta.org/about/content.cfm?ItemNumber=1091

9 Ethnic and Racial Disparities in Education: Psychologys Contributions to Understanding and Reducing Disparities (n.d.). In merican
Psychological Association. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from https://www.apa.org/ed/resources/racial-disparities.pdf

English or who have low literacy skills are put at a severe disadvantage. According to Literacy
Coalition, 25% of adults do not have a high school diploma or GED10, and children growing in
these households tend to get behind in school. Statistically, parents without higher education
make less income, as a result parents have limited access to books or other school related
resources11. Also, economically disadvantaged families spend less time reading and that is
reflected in the STAAR test, which in 2014 DISD third graders had a relative lower percentage at
64 percent compared to the statewide average of 74 percent12. Together we can give children a
better opportunity to be successful.

Section 3: Proposal
Barnes and Noble would like to partner with the Dallas Regional Chamber to host a
Read-A-Thon. On the Saturday before National Reading Day, we will host a reading event at
Kiest Park in South Dallas. At the Read-A-Thon, area elementary school students be read to and
enjoy a play area. The play area will have bounce houses, face painting and space to play with
frisbees and soccer balls. Food will be provided for the children, parents and volunteers. Parents
will also learn more about importance of reading and be able to get information on the programs
the Dallas Public Library offers to help adults learn English. When each child leaves, they will
receive a donated book to help get more books into more homes. One benefit will be that
10 Literacy Coalition. In Literacy Coalition. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from https://dallaslibrary2.org/literacy/coalition.php
11 Anne McGill Franzen, A., & Allington, R. (2009). Access to Books. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from
http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/face/pdf/research-compendium/access-to-books.pdf

122013-14 Texas Academic Performance Report (n.d.). In Texas Education Agency. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from
http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/cgi/sas/broker?
_service=marykay&year4=2014&year2=14&_debug=0&single=N&title=2014+Texas+Academic+Performance+Reports&_program=perfrept.per
fmast.sas&prgopt=2014%2Ftapr%2Fta

children who receive a book will be more inclined to read, given the results of a study done in
1986 by The Center For The Study of Reading that indicates that children who are read stories at
home will learn to read (McCormick and Mason). Another benefit would be from educating the
parents about the programs that the Dallas Public Library offers. Parents who learn English could
impact the language barrier that is a major factor of low literacy. Because the Dallas Regional
Chamber hopes to raise the standard of education and reading this event is an important part of
education goals set by the city, this event falls in line with one of the DRC goals.

Section 4: Plan & Schedule

Barnes & Noble plans on hosting their event at Kiest Park. Kiest Park in South Dallas is
the most strategically relevant location, due to its proximity to the four elementary schools. Two
of the elementary schools are within walking distance to the park, Barbara Jordan and John The
other two elementary schools, Maria Moreno and Daniel Webster, are less than 5 minutes away
by car. There is also a Dallas Area Rapid Transit bus that will get families from the park to the
event. All 4 schools have over 500 students enrolled. The expectation is that 80% of the students
will attend, with their parents and siblings, for a total of 3,100 attendees. Kiest Park offers over
200 acres of park space. The event will be held on the baseball and softball fields. The dugouts
will be locked and the fields will be covered with a tarp to prevent damages. A gate will be
placed around the area we are utilizing and a security team will be monitoring the gates, as well
as oversee the entire event. There is no set schedule for the event, although the guest speaker, Mo
Willems, will be reading two of his books We Are In A Book! and Dont Let the Pigeon Drive
the Bus! at 1:00PM and 2:00PM on each field. Both front gates, one on either side of the
baseball and softball fields, will open at 9:50AM to start getting everyone signed in and close
around 4:30PM to allow time for everyone to exit. The parent information, volunteer reading and
play areas will be open at 10:00AM until 4:00PM. The dining area will be open from 10:30AM
to 3:30PM. Once inside on the right, tables and chairs will be setup for volunteers to read
inspirational books like What Do You Do With An Idea? and the Dr. Seuss classic, Oh, The
Places Youll Go to the children. Ideally, volunteers will be able to spend one-on-one time with
the children. When the event gets busy, children will be split by age and read to as a group. Once

the volunteer is done reading to the child, the child will get a wristband that allows them
unlimited access to the play area. There will be two play areas set up. One for children from 3-6
with smaller bounce houses and one set up for children 7 and up with larger bounce houses,
frisbee and soccer. Face painting will be in between the two play areas, for both age groups.
From the front gate, to the left, will be the dining area. The dining area will offer nutritious food
for the parents, children and volunteers and plenty of water. CN Catering will be providing
roasted chicken, caprese quinoa, grilled vegetables, and mini cheesecake squares for dessert.
North of the dining area is where the parent information center will be. Mo Willems will also
read to a group of children in this area. The most important part of the event is when the kids go
to leave. Each child will be handed a free book as they walk out the door. We hope to hand out
2000 donated books to make sure more than 1 in every 300 families have a book at home.

Section 5: Staffing
BigD Party Rentals will be hired to assemble and disassemble the tables, tents and chairs,
as well as provide trash cans. Since the Dallas ISD background is expensive, BigD Party Rentals
will not have any staff on-site during the open hours of the event. The team will arrive at
8:30AM to get set up and leave before the children arrive. BigD Party Rentals will be allowed to
tear down the event once all the children have left, around 4:30PM. The hired clean-up crew will
arrive around 4:30PM. Portable restrooms and hand sanitizer stations will also be delivered and
picked up, before opening and after closing.. Private security will also be hired for the set up,
duration of the event and overseeing the cleanup crew after the event is over.
The bulk of the staff will be volunteers. Most of the volunteers will be from local high
schools and local colleges. National Honor Society students are always looking for ways to earn
community service hours. Ads seeking volunteers will be run on KERA, public radio. Flyers will
be provided to the Dallas Regional Chamber to encourage members to volunteering within the
chamber.. 25% of the volunteers are required to be bilingual. All volunteers will have to pass the
Dallas ISD criminal background check required for district volunteers, prior to the event. The
goal is 400 volunteers from 9:00AM to 5:00PM on the day of the event. The volunteers will start
their shift getting volunteer t-shirts and information on the event, like who to contact in an
emergency and a brief overview of their job. Volunteers will pick stations, although some will
have to be assigned. At the front gates, volunteers will be checking children in and handing out a
map of the event and a ticket for lunch. Volunteers will set up the books in the reading tent, pick
a table and chair theyd like to sit in and have wristbands ready to give the children after the
volunteer is done reading. Volunteers in the play area will be standing by each of hte bounce
houses to ensure safety. Artistic volunteers will be providing face paint for the kids. Athletic

volunteers will be playing soccer and frisbee with the older children. Bilingual volunteers will be
providing information to the parents in the parent information area. Plenty of volunteers will be
set up in the dining area to provide food and water to the parents, children and other volunteers.

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Section 6: Budget
Weve estimated food and beverage to cost us about $10 per person. The private event
planning company will cost approximately $15,000. We also plan on doing promotions at the
school with flyers and banners, but also on KERA public radio to help bring more awareness and
volunteers to the event. We expect the kids play areas to cost us $8,000 for the bounce houses,
face painting and other activities. We will hire a clean-up crew, so clean-up is not left to the city.
We also will be paying for the author appearance. With these estimated expenses, weve
determined it will cost us about $26 per attendee. Today, we are asking the chamber to make any
investment of half the expected cost for the event, $40,000. As of today, the only items that have
been donated are the books for the children to take home, from Barnes & Noble. The books read
to the children at the volunteer stations will be borrowed from the Dallas Public Library and
Barnes and Noble. Ideally, more donations will come in, but this is our budget, as of today,
November 17, 2015. CN Catering will be providing the food and bottled water for $10 per
person. Big D Party Rentals has provided a quote at $15,000, which includes delivery, set up and
take down. Each volunteer has to be background checked which costs $20 each, totaling $8,000.
The bounce houses, Frisbees and soccer balls will cost $7,500, $200 and $300, respectively. The
Barnes and Noble Marketing team will be working on the marketing for this event, but cost of
materials for flyers and banners ($1,000) is not included. An additional $4,000 will be spent on
an ad on KERA public radio to help bring more awareness and volunteers to the event. The
private security team of five off-duty police officers and thirty unarmed security guards will cost
$5,000 for the day. Mo Willems, guest author, charges $3,000 for 3 hours. The after-event cleanup crew will cost $1,000. With these estimated expenses, the cost per attendee is $25.81. Barnes

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and Noble will be covering half of the estimated budget, $40,000, and any additional expenses.
The investment requested from the Dallas Regional Chamber is that remaining balance of
$40,000. If the final expenses are less than $80,000, Barnes and Noble will offer the Dallas
Regional Chamber a portion of the excess and donate the remaining to the Dallas Independent
School Districts Library Reading Programs.

Food and beverage for 3500 attendees

$35,000

Big D Party Rentals (tables, tents etc.)

$15,000

Background checks for volunteers

$8,000

Bounce houses and fun activities

$8,000

Promotions (schools, KERA, ect.)

$5,000

Private security team

$5,000

Author appearance

$3,000

Cleaning crew

$1,000

Total ($26/attendee)

$80,000

Section 7: Success Measures

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The way we can measure the success of the event is by measuring the event itself ,and the

benefits to the children that attended the event. The success is measured in three categories the
first is what's in it for the city, the success of the event ,and benefits for the children. The first
category is whats in it for the city of Dallas. The city of Dallas can expect to see the reward of
the Read-A-Thon in the long term. We want to improve the reading skills of the community
because the scores for the STAR reading test in the city of Dallas has been steadily declining
compared to the state of Texas scores that have stayed relatively constant. We believe that by
having a Read-A-Thon the gap between the state and city will close. This graph illustrates the
disparity between the state of Texas STAR scores for 5th graders compared to the STAR scores
for the 5th graders in the city of Dallas.

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With this event we want to be able to give young children the experience of enjoying
reading at a young age. We believe by providing these children with an event like this will show
them the value of reading ,and will prove to be valuable in the future. We want to break the cycle
of not reading at a younger age because we do believe the is the biggest issue kids have is not
being shown how important it is to read at a young age.
The second form of measurements that we plan on using is measuring the success of the
event itself. In terms of the measurement of the community success is measuring the test scores
of the kids that do attend the event and see if there is any growth in their reading scores before
and after attending the Read-a-thon. We would also like to see the difference this event makes in
the long term academic success of a child. As far as measuring the event on its own we do want
to see if this event is something people would want to attend annually so we do plan on having
surveys for the people that attended to tell us what we need to improve on and things that they
did enjoy while they were at the event.
The third form of measurement is seeing if the children do find the benefits that we are
trying to instill in them. Benefits include providing them books so that that they develop a habit
of reading in the future. We believe that by reading books children at a young age it will help
develop good oral language that will pay dividends in their future when they enter the workforce.

Section 9: Conclusion

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Will a Read-A-Thon actually benefit the city of Dallas? The evidence is overwhelming
the children of our city are at a severe disadvantage. Reading scores are significantly lower than
the state average and have only declined in recent years. Barnes and Noble is determined to help
reverse this trend and push reform. We at Barnes and noble are convinced that reading is
necessary, and that the benefits go far beyond vocabulary. Reading develops the mind and drives
creativity it allows us to express ourselves and introduces us to new ideas. How can we expect
our youth to break the cycle they are cemented in if we do not give them the tools to succeed? It
will never be possible to completely eradicate illiteracy, but through our Read-A-Thon, we can
significantly reduce the growing epidemic.

Section 10: References

1.

Hobbs, T. D. (2014, December 1). Dallas ISD seeks literacy tutors to spare an hour per week. The Dallas Morning News.

Retrieved from http://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/headlines/20141201-dallas-isd-seeks-literacy-tutors-to-spare-an-hour-perweek.ece

2.
State & County QuickFacts (n.d.). In U.S. Census Bureau: State and County QuickFacts. Retrieved November 15, 2015,
from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/48/48113.html

15

3.

Illiteracy & Crime (n.d.). In Literacy Texas. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from

http://www.literacytexas.org/literacy_in_texas/facts_statistics/illiteracy_crime.html
4.
Our Company (n.d.). In Barnes & Noble Booksellers. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from
http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/our_company/our_company.html
5.
Population, Population Change, and Proportion of the Total Population by Race/Ethnicity for Dallas County, Texas, 2000
and 2010 (n.d.). In U.S. Census 2010, P.L. 94-171.. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from
https://www.census.gov/rdo/data/2010_census.html
6.
State & County QuickFacts. In U.S. Census Bureau: State and County QuickFacts. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/48/48113.html
7.
EVALUATION OF THE DUAL LANGUAGE AND ESL PROGRAMS: 2013-14 (n.d.). Retrieved November 15, 2015,
from http://www.dallasisd.org/cms/lib/TX01001475/Centricity/Domain/98/Evaluation/13-14/AtaGlance/EA14-126-4-BE-ESL-At-aGlance.pdf
8.
PTA Resolution on Teacher Preparation for Parent/Family Involvement (n.d.). In National PTA. Retrieved November 15,
2015, from http://www.pta.org/about/content.cfm?ItemNumber=1091
9.
Ethnic and Racial Disparities in Education: Psychologys Contributions to Understanding and Reducing Disparities (n.d.).
In merican Psychological Association. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from https://www.apa.org/ed/resources/racial-disparities.pdf
10. Literacy Coalition. In Literacy Coalition. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from
https://dallaslibrary2.org/literacy/coalition.php
11. Anne McGill Franzen, A., & Allington, R. (2009). Access to Books. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from
http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/face/pdf/research-compendium/access-to-books.pdf
12. 2013-14 Texas Academic Performance Report (n.d.). In Texas Education Agency. Retrieved November 15, 2015, from
http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/cgi/sas/broker?
_service=marykay&year4=2014&year2=14&_debug=0&single=N&title=2014+Texas+Academic+Performance+Reports&_program=
perfrept.perfmast.sas&prgopt=2014%2Ftapr%2Fta
13. McCormick, Christine, and Jana

Mason. Use Of Little Books At Home. Center for the

Study of Reading, 1986. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

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