Why Every Child Needs to Read Over the Summer

By Katie Schafer, Reading Specialist at Lincoln

How could a child who could add (36+57) before Kindergarten still have so much difficulty decoding words in first grade? I told my son’s first grade classroom teacher, “For the amount of reading we’ve done at home, he should be reading Shakespeare!” (I wasn’t kidding.) He left first grade as he did Kindergarten--just barely at grade level in reading.

Knowing the research, I was determined to not let his skills regress over the summer. We made it a priority to read thirty minutes each day as we did the summer before. During times I read to him, he would have 5 books piled up eager to listen. He loved listening to books, but the grumbling began when it was his turn to read. I would answer his negative comments with things like, “Reading is a skill you’re going to need your entire life, and besides it’s fun. You learn stuff. It makes you laugh. Dad and I read all the time.” Practice continued and summer ended. I was proud of his hard work and couldn’t wait to see his fall scores. He was given his first reading assessment at “Meet the Teacher” day--where we found out that Dylan had lost 4 words per minute over the summer. I couldn’t believe it. He regressed? I was disappointed. It was a very small regression, but I was hoping for at least some sort of gain. We had worked so hard!
So we started the 2nd grade year with our same home reading routines as the year before, including the complaining. Then, one night I noticed him reading a book on the couch for FUN. He started telling me, “Mom, did you know that frogs…” followed with a similar question, and another, and another. He made me laugh with all his questions. I was so happy to see him experiencing a reader’s joy and knowledge on his OWN. His quarter 3 scores rolled in, and I was ecstatic to find out that his scores were above grade level expectations. Our hard work (including a hefty fine for overdue books at the library from summer) finally paid off.

What about the upcoming summer? You got it. We’ll be reading again. While Dylan didn’t make enormous gains last summer, he also didn’t experience very much regression. Research states that children who don’t read over summer suffer a 2-6 month loss in skills. This is known as the summer slide and can accumulate up to a 2 year gap by eighth grade! Regression can happen to ANY child regardless of reading ability, socio-economic status, gender, grade, etc. when reading does not take place over summer. Regression is happening to our children at Lincoln. In fact, when looking at a sample of Lincoln‘s population, only 9% maintained or increased reading skills over summer. When I looked at our data, here’s a sample of what I saw this past September:

Lincoln Student - - Before Summer Score - - After Summer Score
Third Grader - - - - - - -128 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -99 (Lost a years growth in fluency over summer!)
Third Grader - - - - - - - 142 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 103 (Lost almost 2 years growth in fluency)
Third Grader - - - - - - - 71 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -41 (Lost 8 mos. growth in fluency over summer!)
Second Grader - - - - - -92 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -62 (Lost 7 months)
Second Grader - - - - - -63 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -27 (Lost a year)
Second Grader - - - - - -37 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 22 (Lost 4 months)

There are many other students with similar data. If you are interested in your child’s previous summer loss or gains, I can look it up in our shared drive. E-mail me at http://www.blogger.com/kaschafer@rochester.k12.mn.us. More importantly, start thinking now about a plan to incorporate reading into your child(ren)’s routine. Stay tuned for the next post where we discuss how to make summer reading extra special.