Students at the Dougherty County School System’s elementary schools and Pre-K program logged more than 14.6 million minutes of reading during the month of January as part of the district’s Read Bowl event. 

Designed to coincide with the lead up to the Super Bowl, the Read Bowl was a partnership between the district and the Read with Malcolm organization, which promotes literacy across the country. 

The reading competition hosted by the Read with Malcolm-Share the Magic Foundation allows PreK-8th grade students around the globe to compete to read weekly for 30 days. The Dougherty County School System had 14 schools ranging from Dougherty County PreK, 10 elementary schools, and middle school participate in READBowl 2023 from January 9th-February 3rd. Read with Malcolm is an initiative started by former UGA star Malcolm Mitchell.

Over 5,800 students participated in the READBowl challenge totaling 14,635,165 minutes.

Students at Sherwood Acres Elementary logged the most total minutes read while students at Robert Harvey Elementary had the highest average minutes read per student. The two schools will each have a reading rally with Mitchell later this spring.

The competition reinforces the district’s push for early literacy, which is the first priority in the district’s strategic plan.