Summer Reading Programs Effects & how It Affects Childrens Performance Report

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The Effects of Summer Reading Programs and How it Affects Children’s Performance
Julie Shumard
Grand Valley State University
ENG 495-01
Dr. Masko
April 9, 2021
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The Effects of Summer Reading Programs and How it Affects Children’s Performance
Abstract
While summer vacation can be an excellent time for students to relax after the academic
year, they can lose reading gains during their summer vacation. Particularly, if students from
low-income households do not have a summer reading intervention, they are more susceptible to
losing those reading skills that they would have normally gained during the academic school
year. Summer reading programs are always recommended for students to have less of ‘a summer
loss’ or what others may call it, ‘a summer slide’. This paper will examine how to administer
summer reading programs and how to reduce the ‘summer slide’ through kids enjoying reading
to increase their need for reading skills.
Keywords: Summer Reading, Skills, Reading Interventions, Reading Programs
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Studies have been explained as impacts of the summer reading programs on children’s
reading performance. Children reading during the summers can effectively eliminate chances of
summer slide because it increases the child’s knowledge and increased enjoyment in reading.
Reading in the summer could increase the gap in reading skills between children from wealthy
and poor if the process is done ineffectively. ‘Summer slide’ is the proneness or susceptibility of
a child or a student to lose whatever they had acquired in academics from the previous year or
school session. This section will touch on various studies in this area, highlighting their main
objectives, methodologies, outcomes, and gaps in some studies. This paper will also highlight
areas that the various researchers agree or conflict with my argument.
Impact of Summer Reading on ‘Summer Slide’
A ‘summer slide’ entails students’ tendency, especially those from a low economic
background, to lose the reading gains they had already acquired, probably due to staying for long
without reading books (Alexander, Pitcock, & Boulay, 228). Students are likely to lose academic
and reading gains over the summer holiday after they return to school in fall, and this mostly
occurs to low income students (Gao, Gilbert, & Woods, 2016). Engaging in reading during
summers can reduce the chances of summer slides. Baron (46) backs this idea by highlighting
that a relationship between attendance to the summer reading program and fall assessment test
shows that children who participate in the program transit easily to fail school sessions with the
hope of minimal cases of summer slide. Lu (2009) assesses a high school reading program whose
aim was to reveal how student’s learning achievements were lost during summer vacations; the
author discovered that summer slide would also happen to student students in grades 9 through
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12 (96). Summer reading programs require students to write detailed written reports and to take
reading tests (Lilly, et al. 60).
The evidence towards the support of summer reading programs to curb summer slides.
Petty, Smith, and Kern (52) had a literacy program that involved a sample population of 75
Grade 4 students from one elementary school. They were all provided with six books which were
both fiction and nonfiction for them to take home to read. The books were according to one’s
reading capabilities, and they were provided along with supporting materials and activities for
them to do. The program had multiple components, which involved the provision of the books,
parents involvement to help students with reading, and a 2-day camp for the experience. The
reading program’s outcome showed that more than half of the students that were fifty three
percent involved with the exercise remained at the same reading skill level, concluding that
schools should encourage such programs to combat summer slides. However, the research fails
to highlight some of the costs that come with the program.
According to Kim and White, effective administration of any academic program is more
likely to achieve its objective, and in this case, effective administration of summer reading
programs will reduce both summer-slide and the widening of the achievement gap between
students(65). Green, Lewis, Kent, Feldman, Motley, Baggett, & Lewis (2011) conducted research
that examined whether the summer reading program would reduce summer slide among students
in grades three to five (87). They found that if every student were engaged academically over the
summer, it would have both the summer slide and the gap in performance between students from
low-income households and those from middle-income (90).
The child does not need many hours to read in a day because they usually lose
concentration quickly (Baron, 47). Allyn and Morrell (36) regard this summer-slide as lost
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months through which kids’ reading progress remains static or falls back. These authors
recommend independent reading, read-aloud, and creating super reader families. Lundstrom
(2005) emphasizes at least twenty minutes of independent reading per day for the child since this
is enough time for them to develop a lifelong reading habit and expand their vocabulary. Early
literacy achievements are critical to a child since it exposes a child to both reading and writing
skills, hence eliminating chances of literacy achievement gaps in those skills (Gao, Gilbert &
Woods, 117).
Libraries play the critical role and enhancing reading habits among children; therefore,
parents and teachers need to devise a tactic to ensure a smooth channel of issuing books to these
kids. DelGuidice and Luna (18) came up with a library solution that will involve both parents
and educators to make learning fun by opening elementary school libraries for two days every
week. Summer reading can be more fun if the library program can implement digital reading
clubs, summer reading clubs, or library scavenger hunts to give the children the freedom to read
what they want. Such implementations of engaging students in a creative life-school balance will
lead to a dramatic increase of more than thirty percent in their reading skills (Green 90).
Increases Enjoyment in Reading
When children increase their reading habits even during their fun times, they are likely to
develop an interest in reading and enjoy this exercise. Baron (46) touches on how more school
libraries are making children enjoy reading more and learn until fall. One of the summer reading
programs in New Hanover County entails 11 libraries that accommodate summer programs. The
program’s main thing was the instances of summer slides among children by keeping them on
books even when schools are out of session. Thirty-eight schools were invited to join the
program, and four of them were able to secure funding to keep their sites open. This program
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was to solve some students’ challenge of not affording transportation to the libraries since the 11
sites were in residential neighborhoods, which would encourage students to walk to attend these
programs. One advantage of the program is that students could attend programs of their interests
and what they like (Baron, 46). Another research also suggest that summer reading programs
enable students to understand their educational levels and there interests when selecting the
reading materials. These children will opt for non-traditional kinesthetic, exploratory and artistic
activities in order to have a successful literary experience (Petty et al. 50).
I agree with Petty, Smith, and Kern who argue that making summer reading programs can
enhance literacy excitement, especially among students from low-income households who wish
to have summer reading resources but end up lacking them (49). Through Kappa Gamma
Educational Foundation, their study involved a summer literacy program that sought to enhance
literacy excitement for children in low-income environments and curb the notion that children
from high-poverty environments decline in their reading skills during the summer breaks (53).
The argument that these children declined in their reading and literacy skills due to inadequate
resources for reading when at home. Baron agrees with my argument that the need to have a
summer reading program is making reading and learning fun and interesting (46). It highlights
the issue with the budget crisis to support such a program that is out of school session. The
author also argues that such a program needs more marketing to make people aware of their
existence (Baron, 47).
Practicing a habit from time to time is likely to make someone grow in skill from an
amateur to a pro. Therefore, concerning reading, students who participate in summer reading
programs are more likely to transition smoothly from reading simple books to complex books
with no pictures and vocabularies. Also, the effects of summer reading activities take time and
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hence long-term (Lily, et al. 62 ). ADD ANOTHER SENTENCE HERE, DO NOT END ON
A QUOTE, ANALYZE
Increases Child’s Knowledge
The reader’s mind is growing by giving him/her more ideas about things since they will
have built a curiosity list (Allyn & Morrel, 36). Therefore, children who engage in summer
reading are more likely to develop a healthy and sharp mind as they are having fun. Children
who tend to read often are also at an advantage of improving their concentration because reading
trains the mind to focus. Recent research has shown that kids who manage to read more than four
books over the summer breaks are likely to increase or maintain their knowledge and skills
(Lundstrom, 24). There should be two types of books to be used in the summer reading program
and they are books that parents or guardians can be reading aloud for the child and books that the
child can read independently (Albee et al. 293). This collaboration will enhance a child’s
knowledge on how to decode when reading and increase his/her reading fluency.
Some say that practice makes perfect, and continuous reading practice among students
helps them perfect their reading and comprehension skills. Therefore, I agree with Lundstrom,
who claims that summer reading programs among children play the same role as the continuous
practice in playing musical instruments because both skills take time to develop (22). Also,
through the mastered reading skills, children tend to perform well in their academics. A study
done by Albee, Smith, Arnold & Dennis supports my argument that summer reading improves
students’ knowledge. Their study found that students who participated in the summer reading
intervention retained and improved their reading abilities by around 60% than those who did not
participate (293). Alexander et al. (228) also recommended that summer reading intervention
programs should involve families making it more fun, and books should be owned and not lend.
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Widening Gap in Reading Skills
The world today is diversified with people from different races and socioeconomic
statuses and an association between summer slide and the student socioeconomic status has also
been confirmed by recent studies. (Gao,et al. 118). These differences seem to affect children
reading school achievements, especially after summer breaks. Since there are costs associated
with summer school programs, kids from low-income households are less likely to attend them;
hence they miss critical educational opportunities. Results of a study conducted by Alexander,
Pitcock & Boulay (225) show that school year learning rates tended to be positive; unfortunately,
they could not be compared with average summer learning rates of a student because summer
learning differs from the normal school-year learning. Alexander et al. (229) and Petty et al. (52)
argue that if students displayed stagnation in their learning rates between spring and fall, then it
shows that summer learning rates are zero, but the summer rates will be negative if fall learning
rates tend to be lower than those of spring. Differences in schools also play a critical role in
determining mean summer learning achievements. The researchers found a relationship between
summer slide and school characteristics, but this relationship tends to be weaker in middle school
grades (Alexander et al., 224).
Children from low-income backgrounds might have the challenge to access books during
a summer reading program; therefore, they are likely not to gain from such a program. Kim and
White (66) and McDaniel et al. (678) argued that kids reading during summer holidays was not
the solution to the widening gap between reading comprehension scores between low-income
students and middle-income students. They claim that even though summer school sessions
improve overall reading achievement, it also increases the gap between middle-income and
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low-income students’ reading achievements. Therefore, to curb this problem, summer reading
programs should ensure that all students are equally provided with books that would probably
match their interests. In an experiment that Allington conducted in 2010 that emphasizes
students’ need to have more books, the study showed a small but statistically significant positive.
Making books available to these kids is not enough because there is a chance that kids
will not read books that do not match their interests (Allyn, et al. 673). Therefore, to curb this
problem, summer reading programs should ensure that all students are equally provided with
books that would probably match their interests. In an experiment that Allington conducted that
emphasizes students’ need to have more books, the study showed a small but statistically
significant positive change in children reading skills, particularly from low-income areas in
Florida (10).
Making books available to these kids is not enough because there is a chance that kids
will not read books that do not match their interests (Allyn & Morrel 35). Kim & White
conducted a study involving 1st through 5th –grade children by giving them books that matched
their interests (66). This study used the Stanford Achievement Test, where students were given
ten books during the summer vacation while others were given ten books matching their
interests, both groups of students achieved similar reading scores during a fall test. This research
adds that such programs should provide books that match the children’s interests and teacher
scaffolding to enhance comprehension and fluency practices. The research fails to tackle how
these measures can be taken effectively and cost-efficiently (67). Apart from the benefits of
summer reading programs, there are also costs associate with this additional appropriation of
reading time to students. A study conducted by Reed, Cook, and Aloe shows that summer
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reading programs involve enormous financial costs if schools are mandated to provide the
programs. Most of these costs are associated with personnel costs (597).
This study assumes that, despite the literacy gap created by poorly administered summer
reading programs, schools can try to address this gap by implementing efficient summer reading
programs at a low cost. Arlington and McGill-Franzen (13) emphasize that eliminating the
summer reading loss among children from low-income families can be achieved by offering
self-selected books. This measure will enable kids to choose books that suit their interests, hence
improving reading gains. Since attending summer school sessions would be quite costly and
somehow impossible for students from low-income households, distributing them with books
they would select by themselves will improve their reading gains with the same measure as those
who attended summer school programs (Lundstrom, 21). Research shows that students are more
likely to read books that they have selected by themselves than those administered randomly
(Kim and White, 67).
Summary of Literature
All in all, a lot of research supports this that mandates summer reading programs in
schools that engage both parents and students. Most studies touching on the effects of summer
reading programs on a child’s academic performance point out how such programs help eradicate
summer slide chances, improve a child’s knowledge of various things, and make reading exercise
fun for children. Other studies have shown that poorly administered summer reading programs
can widen the reading skills gap between children who arise from different socioeconomic
backgrounds.
Context
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It is a common thing to see students finding it very hard to concentrate on studies after
the long gaps of summer vacations. An increasing number of school districts are experimenting
and keeping their libraries open all summer and even giving books away, and these programs
share a universal goal to keep kids reading throughout the whole year (Baron, 2016). Vacations
keep students from having an interest in learning or studying throughout the whole summer and
more so when there are very few places to go where you could actually study. Various research
has been carried out with time about the possible benefits of summer reading opportunities in the
academics of students.
An study was carried out by Richard Allington and his colleagues in 2010 in which
low-income kids got books to read for three successive summers. Children were assigned to two
treatment groups: one group that received 12 books in each three summers and another to a
group receiving no books. The results showed a small but important development in reading
skills, particularly among the children at lowest socioeconomic level (JAMES S. KIM, 2011).
Research shows that reading interest in summer vacations is shown mostly by the students with
lower income and humble economy. Research reveals that lower income students lose more
ground than higher income students. It has also been found out that there was a strong demand
for voluntary programs that combine both academics and enrichment among low-income
students. These programs had a significant improvement on students’ mathematics achievement
compared to other groups. It is certainly seen that students involved in these summer programs
are more likely to improve in their studies and their ability to learn (Jennifer Sloan McCombs,
2021).
Practices have shown that only a library cannot be the appropriate source for summer
reading of students, and many online platforms have been introduced to provide kids with
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e-books for summer studies. The reading rainbow App based on a TV series invites children to
travel to theme islands and find books. Also, Storia a free reading app is a platform dedicated
only for kids. Storia has an in-built Reading report feature that tracks the reading habits of the
student (ALLYN, 2013). As the world modernizes and technology advances students will more
likely work smart than work hard to achieve their goals and this is why online learning is a major
thing. It is very important to find out ways to keep students interested in reading books in
whatever possible ways rather than forcing them to a library. Maybe motivating students to surf
the internet wisely and learn or even read books from the internet could be an easy way to make
them follow a summer learning trend.
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References
FIX- LOOK AT MINE FOR EXAMPLES OF HOW TO DO IT AND HOW TO FORMAT IT
CORRECTLY 🙂
Albee, J., Smith, M., Arnold, J.M., & Dennis, L. (2019). Digging Struggling Students Out of the
Summer Reading Slump. The Reading Teacher, 73, 291-299.
Alexander, K., Pitcock, S., & Boulay, M. C. (2016). Schools, Families, and Inequality: Strong
empirical patterns in search of Strong theory. In The Summer Slide: What We Know and Can
Do About Summer Learning Loss. New York: Teachers College Press.
Alexander, K., Pitcock, S., & Boulay, M. C. (2016). School’s Out:…
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