POSTER TEMPLATE BY: SUMMER VACATION AND ITS EFFECTS ON BASIC EARLY LITERACY SKILLS Catherine Brokofsky, Ed.S., High Plains Educational Cooperative, Ulysses, KS Heath Marrs, Ed.D., Central Washington University, MATERIALS AND PROCEDURE RESULTS Discussion ABSTRACT HYPOTHESES STUDY OBJECTIVIES PARTICIPANTS REFERENCES RESULTS Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) Set of procedures and measures for assessing the acquisition of basic early literacy skills from kindergarten through sixth grade Seven DIBELS subtests measure the emergence of basic early literacy skills Students were administered DIBELS during the spring of 2008 and again in the fall of 2008 upon returning from summer vacation DIBELS scores were obtained from the school psychologists for the school district. Summer school attendance and free and reduced lunch eligibility was also obtained from the school psychologist. Those students who received free and reduced lunches were considered low socioeconomic status. Those students who did not receive free and reduced lunches were considered high socioeconomic status. In this study, students did regress over the summer in basic early literacy skills. Examining basic early literacy skills helps distinguish successful from unsuccessful readers. Those students showing a loss upon returning from summer break may be at risk for further reading problems. H 1 : Students will regress in the area of basic early literacy skills over the summer. H 2 : Students who attend summer school will regress less on basic early literacy skills than students who do not attend. H 3 : Children who are on the free and reduced lunch program will regress more on the basic early literacy skills compared to children from a higher socioeconomic background. Examine whether students regress in the area of basic early literacy skills over the summer break. Examine whether students who attend summer school make progress or regress in basic early literacy skills over the summer as indicated by the DIBELS measures? Examine whether students who are on free and reduced lunches make progress or regress more in basic early literacy skills over the summer as indicated by DIBELS scores? Archival data for 110 students obtained from two elementary schools Elementary 1: 15 students grades K-1 Elementary 2: 47 students K-1; 48 students 1 st -2 nd 62 students (32 male, 30 female) given various subtests of the DIBELS during spring of K and fall of 1 st grade year. 47 students (27 male, 21 female) given various subtests of the DIBELS during spring of 1 st grade and fall of 2 nd grade. H 1 : Students will regress in the area of basic early literacy skills over the summer. Kindergarten – First Grade Sample Significant difference between the spring phoneme segmentation fluency measure score ( M = 41.92, S D = 14.08, n = 62) and the fall phoneme segmentation fluency measure score ( M = 37.66, SD = 13.02, n = 62); t (61)= 2.46; p =.017 (two-tailed). Significant difference between the spring letter naming fluency score ( M = 52.64, SD = 17.48, n = 47) and the fall letter naming fluency score ( M = 45.40, SD = 14.11, n = 47); t (46) = 4.27; p =.000 (two-tailed). No significant difference for nonsense word fluency between the spring ( M = 36.34, SD = 19.41, n = 63) and fall ( M = 32.95, SD = 19.72, n = 62); t (61) = 1.84; p =.070 (two-tailed). First Grade – Second Grade Sample No significant difference for nonsense word fluency between spring ( M = 58.98, SD = 30.37, n = 48) and fall ( M = 59.50, SD = 30.75, n = 48); t (47) = -.18; p =.857 (two-tailed). No significant difference for oral reading fluency in the spring ( M = 48.08, SD = 29.55, n = 48) and fall ( M = 48.04, SD = 29.13, n = 48); t (47) =.02, p =.98 (two-tailed). H 2 : Students who attend summer school will regress less then students who do not attend on basic early literacy skills. Due to low sample size, statistical tests could not be run to determine if summer school has an effect on retention of early literacy skills. H 3 : Children who are on the free and reduced lunch program will regress more on the basic early literacy skills compared to children from a higher socioeconomic background. For students returning to first grade (free/reduced lunch: n = 20; paid: n = 42), there was no significant difference on the change score of phoneme segmentation fluency, F(1,60) =.872; p =.354, nonsense word fluency, F(1,60) =.978; p =.327, or letter naming fluency, F (1,45) = 2.018; p =.162) Those students who returned to the second grade (free/reduced: n = 14; paid: n = 34) in the fall, there was no significant difference in the change score of nonsense word fluency, F(1,46) =.905; p =.347, or oral reading fluency, F(1,46) = 2.243; p =.141 Allinder, R. M., Fuchs, L. S., Fuchs, D., & Hamlett, C. L. (1992). Effects of summer break on math and spelling performance as a function of grade level. The Elementary School Journal, 92, Borman, G., Benson, J., & Overman, L. T. (2005). Families, schools, and summer learning. The Elementary School Journal, 106, Burkam D. T., Ready, D. D., Lee, V. E., & LeGerfo, L. F. (2004). Social-class differences in summer learning between kindergarten and first grade: Model specification and estimation. Sociology of Education, 77, Cooper, H., Charlton, K., Valentine, J. C., & Muhlenbruck, L. (2000). Making the most of summer school: A meta-analytic and narrative review. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 65 (1, Serial No. 260). Cooper, H., Nye, B., Charlton, K., Lindsay, J. & Greathouse, S. (1996). The effects of summer vacation on achievement tests scores: A narrative and meta-analytic review. Review of Educational Research, 66, For many years, researchers have been interested in the idea of the summer slide, which refers to the learning loss by students following the long summer break. Many researchers have found that over summer vacation, students tend to lose some of the skills that were taught the previous years (Allinder, Fuchs, Fuchs, & Hamlett, 1992; Cooper, Nye, Charlton, Lindsay, & Greathouse, 1996). Skills taught through drill and practice tend to show little or no growth over the summer months. Many factors can affect how much students retain over the summer. For instance, students attending summer school program tend to show more gains over the summer when compared to students who do not attend a summer school program (Borman, Benson, & Overman, 2005; Cooper, Charlton, Valentine, & Muhlenbruch, 2000). A students socioeconomic status also plays a role. Children of lower socioeconomic status tend to show fewer gains over the summer months compared to children of higher socioeconomic status (Burkham, Ready, Lee & LeGerfo, 2004), possibly due to decreased opportunities to participate in academically enriching summer activities.