Why Is Summer Reading So Important?
At the Massachusetts Reading Association Conference, Dr. Richard Allington,
past president of the International Reading Association, spoke about “Why
Summer Reading Is Important.”
Research was conducted to determine the effect of reading done over the
summer:
Children who read over the summer gain a month in their reading level.
Children who do not read over the summer lose 3 months or more in their
reading level. This leads to a 4 month spread in reading level at the
beginning of the next year between kids who read and kids who don’t. That’s
almost half of a school year! It’s unlikely that children that have not been
reading will be able to make up that loss.
By the end of 6th grade, children that haven’t been reading over the summers
have a three year deficit in reading in comparison to children who do read in
the summer.
80% of difficulty in reading at grade 6 is attributable to lack of summer
reading.
Children who read with someone over the summer and talked with someone about
what they had read made the greatest gains in reading at the end of the
summer.
Volume is important. The more a child reads, the better they get at it. Like
any sport, you must keep practicing if you are going to get better. When you
don’t practice you get out of shape.
More reading can make up for reading deficiencies. “Kids who read a lot, read
a lot better.”
Children need access to interesting texts, choice and books on their
independent reading level (five finger rule- if you miss more than 5 words on
the first page the book, then the book is too hard). Poor readers pick a lot
of books they can’t read. Teachers help students find books that they can
read during the school year. Parents must do this over the summer. A book you
can read is one that you can read easily and fluently without help.