Story Shares & The Summer Slide

The summer slide is a setback for literacy proficiency, as the interruption in practice impacts students’ reading skills. This problem is especially prevalent for low-income students and English Language Learners, who often lose access to books entirely over the summer.

Summer reading and 80%

• The summer reading setback can account for approximately 80% of the reaching achievement gap between economically advantaged and disadvantaged students (Allington & McGill-Franzen).
• About 80% of children living in economically disadvantaged communities will lose reading skills over summer breaks due to a lack of access to books and other resources, according to Reading Is Fundamental.

But we also know that the best way to combat the summer slide is to provide access to books: more books, and compelling choices for readers: "One of the most effective means of improving reading achievement levels is supplying students with engaging and comprehensive reading materials. Increased time reading can improve reading, writing, and spelling ability, cultivate larger vocabularies, and develop understanding of complex grammatical structures. One way to motivate students to read is by providing access to self-selected reading materials and time for voluntary reading (Krashen, 2009). When schools close for the summer, students’ reading opportunities diminish, especially for economically disadvantaged students without access to books."

And we can help! Our new Premium Summer Reader subscription enables schools and families to sign up for unlimited summertime access to our complete library and reader dash.

*Schools: provide hundreds of accessible eBooks to your students from afar

*Parents: sign up for amazing summer reading books for your whole family