Dear Colleague:
Most of us will soon be bidding a fond farewell to this year's crop of students. Through our blood, sweat, and tears, we've done our best to ensure that every single child is prepared to tackle the next grade's curriculum.
Sadly, though, all of our hard work can slip away as the long summer days pass by. By fall, many students, especially those from low-income families, will come back to school having fallen behind in reading skills by 2 or 3 months. This summer reading loss is well documented in the research. The results start in the earliest years of school, and they are cumulative, as each year's summer setbacks put low-income students farther and farther behind their peers.
What can be done about this? Evidence from a recently published research study of 1st and 2nd graders (see Online Resources) suggests that giving students books to read can be as effective as summer school, and far less expensive. The study, led by University of Tennessee researcher Richard Allington, followed students for three years. Each summer the students were given books to read. When they came back to school in the fall, they had significantly higher reading scores than students not in the book giveaway program.
Sending books home with students for summer reading is less expensive than you might think. And the pay-off is huge. If you or your school district is interested in a program like this, be sure to check out the specials we are offering on high interest readers. See Special Offers.
Low-income students are not the only ones who stop reading in the summer and come back to school behind in their reading skills. To motivate students to read all summer long, consider giving each student a Reading Journal. See Product Spotlight for details.
Enjoy your summer. If my past experience is any indication, it will be over before you know it.
Best wishes,
Joan Westley, Newsletter Editor
editor@primaryconcepts.com
