The fundamental goal of the Third Grade Summer Reading Camp program in 2024 was to bolster the reading skills of struggling third grade students and to prepare them to demonstrate mastery of state standards needed to be promoted to the fourth grade. The Office of Program Evaluation undertook an evaluation to gauge whether students who completed…

The current pilot study assessed the impact of a motivational intervention on the task-avoidant behaviors, task-engagement behaviors, and skill growth of elementary-age readers attending a remedial summer reading program. We randomly assigned students (ages 7-10) either to an experimental condition (n = 24) that integrated strategies emphasizing…

Literacy and literacy skill development remain critical concerns in the U.S. "Two of every three students in the U.S. do not have the necessary reading proficiencies to successfully complete grade-level work" (Allington, 2011). Camp Read-a-Rama, a summer day camp in South Carolina for 4- to 11-year-olds, creates innovative programming…

Prior research has determined that low-income students lose more ground over the summer than their higher-income peers. Prior research has also shown that some summer learning programs can stem this loss, but we do not know whether large, district-run, voluntary programs can improve students' outcomes. To fill this gap, The Wallace Foundation…

The Summer Opportunity To Accelerate Reading (S.O.A.R.) program is the Title I elementary summer school of the Austin Independent School District (AISD), Texas. The S.O.A.R. program provides early intervention to accelerate literacy learning for students entering grades 1-3 who are at risk of retention or are below grade level. In its second year…

This manual presents information on designing and delivering a summer learning program whose goal is to provide an opportunity for students to experience academic success and positive self-esteem through reading fluency and comprehension. Sections of the manual address background and policies (on student and teacher selection, student promotion,…