Summer Reading

Fun, Sun and Good Books: UT Experts Say Summer Reading Keeps Skills Strong
Tennessee Today: July 21, 2010

To children, the summer slide means water, garden hoses and slippery plastic sheets. To teachers, the “summer slide” is the noted decrease in reading skills after a vacation without books.

University of Tennessee, Knoxville, faculty members Richard Allington and Anne McGill-Franzen have completed a three-year study showing a significantly higher level of reading achievement in students who received books for summer reading at home.

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According to the professors’ research, the summer reading setback is the primary reason for the reading achievement gap between children who have access to reading materials at home and those who do not. Students who do not have books at home miss out on opportunities to read. Those missed opportunities can really add up.

“What we know is that children who do not read in the summer lose two to three months of reading development while kids who do read tend to gain a month of reading proficiency,” Allington said. “This creates a three to four month gap every year. Every two or three years the kids who don’t read in the summer fall a year behind the kids who do.”

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Their study ran three years from 2001 to 2004; the students chose their books; and targeted students in first and second grade at the beginning of the study.

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“Research has demonstrated that choice makes a very important contribution to achievement,” said McGill-Franzen.

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“We found our intervention was less expensive and less extensive than either providing summer school or engaging in comprehensive school reform,” Allington said. “The effect was equal to the effect of summer school. Spending roughly $40 to $50 a year on free books for each child began to alleviate the achievement gap that occurs in the summer.”

To get books into the hands of all children for summer reading, Allington and McGill-Franzen suggest keeping school libraries open during the summer break, sending books home with the students, and building on children’s prior knowledge by providing books on pop culture and local animals and habitats. READ MORE !

The researchers’ study will be published in the fall issue of Reading Psychology.