The Summer Reading Program (SRP) has become a model of what F65 can achieve by funding and incubating teacher-initiated projects. The program supports students who have received supplementary reading support in first grade (Reading Recovery). 

Research has shown that struggling readers, engage in very little reading during their summer vacation. This lack of reading, results in considerable summer reading loss (also known as summer setback). Students often lose from one to three months of reading achievement.

The goal of the Summer Reading Program is to help struggling readers maintain the reading growth that they have achieved during the school year.

How It Works

Six times throughout the summer, participating Reading Recovery students are mailed a letter from their teacher and books that match their reading level and interest. Students are also sent paper and stamped envelopes to respond to their teacher about the books they have read. This project allows the students to practice the reading strategies that they learned during the school year.

Results show that the program works.  In 2011, 34% of particpating students maintained their reading level and an astounding 50% increased their reading level! 

How Summer Reading Program Began

SRP was the brainchild of a D65 Reading Recovery teacher, Linda Shusterman. Reading Recovery is a federally funded early intervention program for first grade students who are having difficulty learning to read and write. It is an effective, short-term intervention that provides one-on-one tutoring with a reading specialist during the school year. Linda taught Reading Recovery for several years and began to note that the gains students achieved during the school year often became completely lost during the summer (a phenomenon known as "summer setback"). Research has shown that children who read during the summer are less likely to experience a summer reading setback. However, parents of struggling readers are often unable to find appropriate books or other print materials in their homes.

Reading Recovery students were entering second grade performing at a lower reading level than they had achieved the previous June. On her own initiative, Linda began sending her students books and magazines to read over the summer.  In 2004, Linda applied to Foundation 65 for an Educator Grant to help expand the Summer Reading Program she had created. 

Today, Foundation 65 is actively working with Linda and other community partners to expand the Summer Reading Program so that ALL struggling readers bewteen 1st and 2nd grade have access to this vital program.