Measuring Results

The mission of Classic Book Radio is to improve literacy by broadcasting readings of classic works of literature over the radio.

I was looking at some grant organizations the other day, on websites.  One of the issues they bring up is having a way to measure the effect of the project.

We do have a bit of a handle on local literacy through success rates at the local schools.  Lowndes County School District is required to measure their student’s proficiency at reading.  The most recent figures you can find here.  The schools in our listening area are West Lowndes Elementary, Middle and High.

For people above school age, there is a national estimate of literacy, by county, here.  But that does not seem to be repeated very often.

A direct poll of the population would be nice.  That would cost a lot of $$!

To me it is a sensible proposition:  People hear a good story and at minimum they are then more “culturally literate” about some of the best literature ever produced in the English language.  They hear new words, expanding their vocabulary.  And they feel more comfortable picking up a book on their own.

A next step after hearing a story would be to read along.  Our plan is to facilitate that by publishing our program in advance and by the happy coincidence of having the public domain texts all available for free on the net.  I guess we could try to measure that by looking at download rate for the text files.  I’ll have to ponder on that idea a bit.

I believe there is a correlation between literacy and economic success.  If that is true, a long-range measure would be to see our neighborhood prosper.