This study explored students' prosocial efficacy and reading outcomes in a culturally relevant summer reading program for underrepresented students. From a positive developmental approach, the reading program focuses on topics rooted in multicultural education, with books organized according to themes such as making a difference for oneself, one's…

Students' reading losses during the summer are a concern for schools in the United States. The purpose of this investigation was to examine fourth grade students' (N = 5,113) reading development over the summer. The results indicated that students in the lowest two quartiles made achievement gains over summer while these same students evidenced…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the effects of one school district's summer reading program on the summer slide on DIBELS Next Composite Scores for students entering first, second, and third grade. The researcher examined the DIBELS Next Composite Score Data of students who were invited and attended and students who were…

With so many students attending summer programs, it is remarkable that there is little research available aiming to investigate achievement differences in participants versus non-participants. This study examined the place of a summer program within a school district budget and curriculum. The study was designed to better understand the…

This case study examines the role of parents as situationally positioned educators during summer months. It illuminates the processes employed by a public charter school to empower parents to support student learning. The study is an action research case study of one school in a small network of schools. The goal was to determine the effectiveness…

Sometimes great initiatives in education start with just a glimmer of an idea and a belief that building a foundation under that idea can effect change. That glimmer of an idea came to Bandera Independent School District (BISD) from a middle school English teacher who attended an International Reading Association Conference and heard about…

The Reading Apprenticeship is an intervention that has been shown in previous studies to increase struggling readers, tested reading achievement by 8 to 9 months during a 12 week, in-school program. This article reports on the first study of the Reading Apprenticeship method conducted in the summer using parents, rather than supervised volunteers,…

The existence of an achievement gap in the academic performance among various subgroups of students is a well-documented phenomenon in American public education (Blackford & Khojasteh, 2013; "Education Week," 2004; Hayes & Grether, 1969; Hernandez, 2011; National Center for Educational Statistics, 2015). This is certainly the…

Efficacy of an intensive reading intervention implemented during the nonacademic summer was evaluated in children with reading disabilities or difficulties (RD). Students (ages 6-9) were randomly assigned to receive Lindamood-Bell's "Seeing Stars" program (n = 23) as an intervention or to a waiting-list control group (n = 24). Analysis…

Among the academic challenges faced by students from low-socioeconomic status (SES) homes is the loss of academic skills during the summer months. A total of 22 elementary students from low-SES homes participated in a summer program designed to improve oral and written narrative skills. We gathered oral and written narrative samples at the…

To improve the reading comprehension outcomes of children in high-poverty schools, policymakers need to identify reading interventions that show promise of effectiveness at scale. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a low-cost and large-scale summer reading intervention that provided comprehension lessons at the end of the school year and…

The authors conducted a cluster-randomized trial to examine the effectiveness of structured teacher adaptations to the implementation of an evidence-based summer literacy program that provided students with (a) books matched to their reading level and interests and (b) teacher scaffolding for summer reading in the form of end-of-year comprehension…

We evaluated the effects of a summer reading intervention with a sample of low-income Black and Hispanic students who were struggling readers. In the summer before their 2nd- or 3rd-grade school year, 14 rising 2nd graders and 18 rising 3rd graders received 15 hr of a scripted, explicit phonics-based program in dyads from credentialed elementary…

The problem of summer reading loss among low-income children has been amply documented by researchers. Over time, income-based disparities in reading achievement appear to grow more rapidly during the summer months than the academic school year. This paper describes two experiments in which teachers scaffold summer book reading with two different…

This fifth annual "Boston Opportunity Agenda Report Card" provides the most up-to-date information available on Boston's education pipeline, from kindergarten through college graduation, including measures for school readiness, 3rd grade reading proficiency, 10th-grade academic proficiency, high school completion, dropout rates, college…