10 Critical Facts about Summer Reading
Losses from the "Summer Slide"—learning or reading skill losses during the summer months are cumulative, creating a wider gap each year between more proficient and less proficient students.
- By the time a struggling reader reaches middle school, summer reading loss has accumulated to a two-year lag in reading achievement.
- Regardless of ethnicity, socioeconomic level, or previous achievement, children who read four or more books over the summer fare better on reading-comprehension tests in the fall than their peers who read one or no books over the summer.
- Teachers typically spend between 4 to 6 weeks re-teaching material students have forgotten over the summer.
- It is estimated that the "Summer Slide" accounts for as much as 85% of the reading achievement gap between lower income students and their middle- and upper-income peers.
- During the school year, lower income children's skills improve at close to the same rate as those of their more advantaged peers—but over the summer, middle- and upper-income children's skills continue to improve, while lower income children’s skills do not.
- Reading as a leisure activity is the best predictor of comprehension, vocabulary and reading speed.
- 3rd graders who can't read on grade level are four times less likely to graduate by age 18 than a proficient reader.
- Having reading role-model parents or a large book collection at home has a greater impact on kids' reading frequency than does household income.
- An overwhelming 92% of kids say they are more likely to finish a book they picked out themselves.
- Ninety-six percent of parents and eighty-four percent of children aged 6-17 agree that reading a book over the summer helps kids during the school year.
- Summer Reading and the Ethnic Achievement Gap, Jimmy Kim, Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 2004.
- Ameliorating summer reading setback among economically disadvantaged elementary students, Richard Allington, April 2007.
- Lasting Consequences of the Summer Learning Gap, Karl Alexander, Doris Entwistle, Linda Steffel Olson, April 2007.
- Why Summer Matters in the Rich/Poor Achievement Gap, Richard Allington and Anne McGill-Frazen, August 2009.
- The Power of Reading, Stephen Krashen, Libraries Unlimited, 1993.
- Annie E.. Casey Foundation, Hernandez, Donald J., 2011.
- The Kids and Family Reading Report™ Canadian edition conducted by YouGov and Scholastic, 2017.
Check out these links to help prevent the Summer Slide
Top Way Parents Ensure their Child Reads over Summer: Read the results from the Kids & Family Reading Report™, Canadian Edition and learn more about the attitudes and behaviours around reading books for fun and how parents encourage their children to read over the summer.
Prevent Summer Slide: Keep your kids in the reading habit during the break so they don’t fall behind when classes resume.
Three Ways to Prevent Summer Slide: Try these strategies to help your reader improve her reading during the summer and beyond.
7 Ways to Stop the Summer Slide: Get inspired with 7 awesome ways beat "brain drain" this summer.
