Written by Ariel Lopez, Staff Writer
Something is seriously up at Indian Trail High School & Academy’s library.
The number of books checked out has been on a steady climb since 2015, when data was first reported.
September checkouts from the circulation desk have jumped from 925 in 2015 to 2,039 in 2019.
And the increase has occurred even while enrollment at Indian Trail has declined from more than 2,400 students in 2015 to about 2,100 students reported for the 2019-20 school year.
Kenosha Unified School District’s library circulation statistics show in the most recent completed school year, 2018-2019, Indian Trail students checked out 9,564 books.
In just the months of September and October this year, a staggering 3,369 books were recorded as checked out.
So why is reading and checking out books becoming more common among IT students?
School officials point to several initiatives that Indian Trail has pursued to in- crease reading, from book blurbs hung on stalls in the bathrooms to book clubs meet- ing after school and at lunch.
But one initiative stands out as the most effective.
“I think a big thing that is causing an increase is a lot of the teachers attended a training where they really focused on what happens to students when they are independently reading. So, they started bringing their classes to the library more,” said IT librarian Jennifer Lindsay.
English department chair and teacher Allison Walton is one of those teachers.
“More and more English teachers are bringing students to the library and build- ing classroom libraries of their own. Both are fantastic ideas,” Walton said.
“Allowing students some choice in what they read is a way to help even the most reluctant readers appreciate the beauty of a book,” she said.
The initiatives at Indian Trail come at a time when teen reading skills nationally are lagging. National statistics show that fewer than 40 percent of students are reading at a college-ready level in the 12th grade.
“Research has shown that most students only read an average of seven minutes a day while they are in school,” Lindsay said. “Those sufficient in reading are probably those who are reading more.”
According to youngreadersfoundation.org, reading can create many social and learning benefits that can be relevant in future references. Reading develops critical and analytical thinking skills, improves memory, broadens perspectives on topics, improves focus and concentration, and helps develop empathy and emotions.
“No matter what you do in the future, you will need to know how to comprehend what you are reading and how to articulate your own ideas. The more students read, the stronger communication skills become,” Walton said.