BLOUNT COUNTY — Terri Bradshaw, literacy coach for secondary schools in Blount County, woke up with a vision.
“I guess I was dreaming about my brackets and I woke up about 4 a.m. and I thought hmm….we could do something like this!" she said.
Bradshaw organized a March Madness reading event between all Blount County middle schools.
Students voted on "selection Wednesday" to narrow down a round of 64 books. The goal: to get students talking about books.
“We have about 2,500 kids involved," said Bradshaw. “Just think of what we can do if we can get just half of those kids excited about a new book.”
On Thursday, students voted to take their favorite books to the Sweet Sixteen. Like many Americans, their brackets are already busted.
“These are frustrating times," said Cameron Anderson, a Carpenters Middle School student.
Anderson said he was surprised all Harry Potter books have already lost out.
“The madness is in full force," said Librarian Lisa Plemons, who is having a hard time keeping books on shelves. “They come in and they’re talking about the brackets and they’re like I haven’t read this. I want this…and they’re like it’s not on the shelf! And I’m like...it's gone!"
The program is a reflection of an already impressive reading program in Blount County.
According to 2017 Tennessee Ready scores, Blount County has 35 percent of students at the top level for the English Language Arts Exam.
Carpenters Middle scored a 5 on its report card, the highest a school can score for reading comprehension. Carpenters is also in the top 5 percent for schools state-wide.
On average, a student's reading comprehension improves over 11 percent each year at Carpenters. Teachers hope this new program will bring those numbers even higher.
“That makes it worth it," said Bradshaw.