Facts About Summer Reading - Scholastic



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Summer Reading FACTS

The Problem:

• The “Summer Slide” – learning or reading skill losses during the summer vacation. Regardless of ethnicity, socioeconomic level, or previous achievement, children who read four or more books over the summer fare better on reading-comprehension tests in the fall than their peers who read one or no books over the summer. 1

o Of even greater concern is the fact that these losses are cumulative, creating a wider gap each year between more proficient and less proficient students. By the time a struggling reader reaches middle school, summer reading loss has accumulated to a two–year lag in reading achievement. 2

• The need to provide access to books and encouragement to read.

Although low-income children actually out-learn high-income children during the school year, they fall further behind during the summer. When it comes to reading skills, low-income children “learn nothing” when school is not in session, while high-income children gain in reading skills during the summer. 6

o Low-income students experience an average summer learning loss in reading achievement of over two months.7

• Lack of reading among kids eight and older. Children’s reading frequency dramatically decreases after the age of eight and continues to decline through their teen years. 3

The Solution:

• Get kids to read 4 or more books. Studies show that by reading four or five books during the summer, elementary students can avoid reading achievement losses that normally occur over those months. 1

• Provide easy access to books. Ensuring that books are available to any child at any time of the year will be a good first step in enhancing the reading achievement of low-income students and an absolutely necessary step in closing the reading achievement gap.2

• Launch a lifelong love of reading by letting kids choose the books they want to read. 89% of kids say that their favorite books are the ones they pick out themselves. 5

1 Summer Reading and the Ethnic Achievement Gap, Jimmy Kim, Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk. 2004

2Ameliorating summer reading setback among economically disadvantaged elementary students, Richard Allington. April 2007

3 The Kids and Family Reading Report( conducted by Yankelovich and Scholastic. 2006

4 Summer Learning and the Effects of Schooling, Barbara Heyns, Academic Press. 1978

5 The 2008 Kids and Family Reading Report( conducted by Yankelovich and Scholastic. 2008

6 Outliers, The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell 2008

7 John Hopkins University Center of Summer Learning

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