Hello Royal Readers! This week we are discussing the book Summer Reading by Richard Allington and Anne Mc-Gill-Frazen. Yesterday Andrea shared the what the research says about summer reading and economically disadvantaged children. You can read that post {here}. Today, we'll focus on chapter three.
What Have We Learned about Addressing Summer Reading Loss?
This chapter takes an in-depth look at summer reading programs and the potential they demonstrated in addressing summer reading loss. Each summer program was conducted as a study with a treatment group and a control group.
In the first study, students from high poverty elementary schools were invited to attend spring book fairs.
The project targeted books that students could read at their independent level (99% accuracy with phrasing and expression).
Additionally, the books fit into four broad categories: popular series, popular culture, culturally relevant, and curriculum relevant.
Children were given free rein to select the books they wanted to read during the summer.
Overall this program demonstrated that providing self-selected summer reading materials improves reading achievement.
Another study was conducted with summer school students. One group of the students participated in a summer reading club for 30-60 minutes of the day while others did not.
The reading club participants gained more in reading levels, reading accuracy, and fluency than their counterparts.
In yet another study, books were mailed out to students weekly over the summer. Prior to the start of summer, one group of students participated lessons at school that modeled oral reading and comprehension strategies.
Results of the study showed that students in this group scored significantly higher than the control groups.
What Does It Mean?
The findings of these studies suggest that voluntary summer reading may help close the rich/poor reading achievement gap. By increasing the amount of voluntary reading children did over the summer months summer reading loss was eliminated and growth was made.Discussion Question
How could information presented in this chapter be used to improve the summer reading program at your school? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Stop back each day this week for additional information on Summer Reading: Closing the Rich/Poor Reading Achievement Gap.
OTHER SUMMER READING BOOK STUDY POSTS:
- FIVE REASONS POOR CHILDREN SUFFER MORE FROM SUMMER LEARNING LOSS
- WHY I WILL NOT PICK MY STUDENTS' BOOKS FOR THEM ANYMORE
- MAKING SUMMER READING PERSONAL
- SUMMER READING: CHAPTER 7
- WHAT'S IN THE TRUCK? ~ A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO SUMMER READING
- PREVENTING SUMMER READING LOSS: WHAT REALLY WORKS?
- SUMMER READING: GETTING BOOKS IN THEIR HANDS