Principal Report

COUNTERACTING SUMMER READING LOSS

Poor children lose ground over the summer; more advantaged children do not. Not having access to books during the summer holidays results in a two month loss each summer for poor children compared to a one month gain for more advantaged children, and that accumulates over the years into a crushing achievement gap. Getting low-SES children reading over the summer is the most effective way to change that dynamic, but what works?

Research suggests that the key ingredients include:

• Students choosing their own books based on their interests; this is especially important for early readers; matching books to students’ reading levels is less important than interest;
• Students getting 10-12 books for the summer;
• Students owning the books (versus borrowing them); research across 27 countries found that a home library is as important as parental education and twice as important as the father’s occupation in predicting educational outcomes;
• Students getting series books with familiar language and literacy elements;
• Students selecting slightly more challenging books each summer;
• Students getting e-book or audio formats that provide access to more-challenging material;
• Guidance to parents on reading and interacting with their children (but not making it too much like school);
• Guidance to teachers on integrating books with other literacy activities;
• Teachers and parents framing summer reading as fun rather than work, with the goal being enjoyment and exploration rather than remediation and achievement gains.

Studies show that students who benefit most from free distribution programmes for summer reading are the poorest students. If educators must make hard choices about how to allocate resources for summer reading, they must give books to the neediest students.

Acknowledgement: “Summers: Some Are Reading, Some Are Not! It Matters” by Anne McGill-Franzen, Natalia Ward, and Maria Cahill in The Reading Teacher, May/June 2016