The Iowa Reading Research Center is out with the results of a study into the effectiveness of summer reading programs. The report comes as every school district in the state approaches a deadline to enact some form of summer reading program.
The study involved 43 school districts and one community organization. The results show the summer programs helped struggling readers maintain their reading skills, but on average did not improve them. The principal investigator of the study and director of the Iowa Reading Research Center, Deborah Reed, says there are challenges ahead as districts implement state mandated summer reading programs.
“Just finding enough qualified teachers whose time constraints allow them to teach in the summer is a major issue for a lot of school districts,” she says.
Student participation in the summer reading was optional and, as a result, only about half of the invited young people attended.
The study examined three approaches to literacy instruction – one computer-based, another print-based and a third “business-as-usual” approach, which allowed school administrators to choose a teaching method. Reed says these approaches are not tailored to a summer school schedule.
“There are some big challenges with how to structure a day in the summer using materials that are really designed for a different purpose, she says.
There’s a state-mandated deadline of May, 2018, for all school districts to put in place some form of summer reading program.