Why are Summer Reading Programs for Youth Important?

Here are some reasons put forth by a wise woman I work with (ooh, aliteration...)

• Research provides abundant evidence that summer reading setback is one of the most important factors contributing to the reading achievement gap between children of high and low economic backgrounds.


• Children who have fewer opportunities to read and fewer books to read over the summer are more at risk of failing in school.


• The reading achievement of poor children declines an average of three months over the summer, while that of children from middle-income families improves or stays the same.


• Studies have shown that low-income and minority students undergo larger summer reading losses than their middle-class and White classmates and that reading is the only activity that is consistently related to summer learning.


• The effect of reading 4-5 books on fall reading scores is potentially enough to prevent a decline in reading achievement scores from the spring to the fall.


• Children who have access to books also read more books over the summer.


• A summer reading loss of 3 months accumulates to a 2 year gap by the time poor children reach middle school.


• Evidence indicates that children from lower-income families have less access to books, both in and out of school than their more-advantaged peers.


• Research shows that public library use among poor children drops off when a library is more than 6 blocks from their home, compared to 2 miles for children from middle income and higher families.


• Better readers read more than poorer readers. The volume of reading is key to the development of reading proficiency.