Summers: Some are reading, some are not. Richard L. Allington, Ph.D. University of Tennessee

Summer reading setback Most of the rich/poor achievement gap (80%) stems from summer reading setback.

Summers really matter… We will not close the rich/poor reading achievement gap until were do something about summer reading activity. Note on the following graph how small amounts of annual reading setback creates a 2.5 year achievement gap by 6 th grade. This even though the gap at K was less than 6 months!

Note also on the graph that reading growth during the school year did not differ between rich/poor kids. It is largely a myth that schools serving poor children are less effective than schools serving middle-class kids. It is what happens during the summer that differs.

Entwisle, Alexander, Olson (2000) follow cohort from K to 5 “The achievement gap across social lines widens over time for reasons have nothing at all to do with schools.” Heyns, (1978) found achievement growth similar during the school year but widening during the summers. “The single summer activity that is most strongly and consistently related to summer learning is reading.”

SES matters It is children from low-income families who are most likely to experience summer reading setback. But also struggling readers from any family income level. Actually, any child who doesn’t read over the summer months.

Access is critical… Almost two-thirds of free-lunch children own no books of their own (Binkley & Williams, 1996). The number of books in a home is a good predictor of education outcomes. Better than family SES (Evans, et al, 2010).

How large is the rich/poor gap? By 12 th grade the gap is 4+ years. Low-income 12 th graders read as well as middle income 8 th graders. And 50% of low-income have already dropped out of school by 12 th grade!

Average Reading Scores By Student Eligibility for Free/Reduced Meals

Students from low-income families typically lose 2-3 months of reading development every summer. Students from middle-income families gain about 1 month every summer. Creates an annual 3-4 month gap every year.

That annual 3-4 month gap means students from low-income families fall behind roughly 1 year every 3 years… By 5 th or 6 th grade kids from low SES families have lost 2 years of reading proficiency during the summer months! Regardless of the school they attend!

Why does summer setback occur? Basic reason seems to be a lack of reading activity. Poor kids don’t own books, don’t have library cards. They rely on schools for books to read.

Print poor neighborhoods… They rely on schools because they live where: There are no bookstores No books for sale anywhere Even newspapers hard to find No Starbucks or Borders

What about public libraries… Some low-income neighborhoods have public libraries but these libraries are more often rated “child unfriendly” than libraries in other neighborhoods (Neuman, 2009).

One solution We conducted a 3 year study on the effects of providing children from low- income families with self-selected books. Each child selected books every year. We gave them these books on the last day of school.

We provided books for roughly 1,000 low- income students from 17 Florida elementary schools 95% of our student were minority students. The study began when they were 1 st or 2 nd graders and continued for three summers.

Putting books in their hands… Our study simply enhanced the access poor children had to books. Books they had selected to read.

Acess is powerful… A meta-analysis of studies of book distribution programs (Lindsey, 2012) confirms that enhancing access to books improves reading achievement. It also improves motivation to read.

Access to Books

What we found out. Providing children from low-income families with books each summer produced positive effects on reading achievement.

Summer books are important… The size of the effect was as large or larger than attending summer school! Increased reading development 40% of a grade level, or about 1.5 months increase each summer on average. Summer books eliminated summer reading loss and added growth every year.

Poorest kids benefit the most… The impact on reading achievement was twice as large for the poorest students (FRL) as for the remaining students. This makes sense to us since the poorest children seem to be the children least likely to have access to books during the summer.

Low cost intervention… At an annual cost of approximately $50 per student. So why do so few schools provide children with books for summer reading? Why aren’t Title I and special education funds used to support summer books?

Choice is powerful… Choice is second only to access to books. Combined they create a powerful force in addressing summer reading setback.

Kids have unique interests… Kids selected books often not available in schools. Kid culture and series books were the most popular books. But literally all 500 titles were selected by at least one child.

What children selected to read… 5. The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby (Pilkey, Beard, & Hutchins, 2002) 4. Hangin’ with Hilary Duff (Scholastic Inc., 2003b) 3. Pop People: Destiny’s Child (Glass, 2001) 2. Pop People: Lil’ Romeo (Morreale, 2003) 1. Hangin’ with Lil’ Romeo (Walsh, 2002)

Many of the top selections were unavailable in any of the school libraries. Reminiscent of Worthy’s (1999)“What kids want to read isn’t in the school library” paper.

The books selected were varied… Series books and kid culture books were the most popular choices. But informational books were also commonly selected by the children. Most popular informational titles dealt with pets and big animals (Crocs, Tigers, etc.).

One more time… We hope to replicate the study with low- income rural students from the Smokey Mountains region of eastern Tennessee. We are hoping to enlist parents as conversational partners with their children.

Replication because the Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy rated our study as “Near Top Tier” evidence. “Near top tier” because it is a single study in a single region. An East Tennessee study could move the evidence base to “Top Tier” evidence.

Other models for summer books… Schools around the nation (and in Canada also) have designed their own summer books initiatives. Open the school library during the summers. Empty the school library and classroom bookshelves of books every summer. Give kids 3 books and then provide an exchange evening two or three times each summer. Provide a bookmobile to visit neighborhoods.

Children’s Reading Center… In northeast Florida, for instance, Geri Melosh and her staff at the Children’s Reading Center use a donated pickup truck to take books to trailer park communities during the summer months. Summer reading loss eliminated!

The book truck…

Poor kids need summer books… Some partnered with community libraries to provide books to kids. Some conducted Series Summer Schools where kids selected series books to read in summer school. Others found financial resources in their communities to fund book distributions.

It is not about money… Lots of folks tell us they would like to give books to children from low-income families BUT they say, “We don’t have money for that.”

We waste more money than the we need to fund summer books… These same folks have money for workbooks, progress monitoring tools, test prep, computers and so on. Money for tools that have NEVER been documented to be part of a program of effective instruction or intervention. NEVER! The money is available but currently wasted.

Where there is a will… In other words, where there is a will, they find a way. Do children from low-income families in your community have books to read every summer? Books they really want to read?

We can, but will we? Put books in their hands all summer long. Help them find books they can read and books they really want to read. We can close the rich/poor reading gap but to do so we have to begin to worry more about summer reading activity.

Questions? Concerns? Ideas?