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From the Director's Desk
Happy Summer!
Are you someone who knows what I mean by “summer slide?” If so, you are probably a parent of a school-aged child. But even those within that group, who overwhelmingly agree that reading can help their child during the school year, are typically unaware of the loss of academic skills that occurs when school is NOT in session. Experts attribute the slide largely to the lack of reading practice during the summer. This is of critical importance, because the effects of the summer slide are cumulative. Researchers estimate that by the time a struggling reader reaches middle school, summer reading loss has accumulated to a two-year lag in reading achievement compared to their peers.
Frequent readers (kids who read books for fun 5–7 days a week) are far more likely to have the summer slide on their radar than are parents of infrequent readers (kids who read for fun less than one day a week), and lower-income families are even less likely to be aware of the issue. This is concerning, because the summer slide is a primary contributor to the reading achievement gap between lower- and higher-income students. Unequal access to out-of-school experiences, like visiting the library or attending a program, have been shown to account for the majority of achievement differences among socioeconomic statuses by the time students reach ninth grade.
Thank goodness there’s a free cure for this inequality, and you know what I’m going to say. A library card is always FREE (with physical and electronic access to books for all ages) and so are all the educational and informative activities in this brochure! Adults, don’t forget about YOU! We’ve been out of school a long time and have been through a lot of “sliding,” as I’m reminded any time I’m faced with a math problem! Keep YOUR brain sharp as well. Bring your children, grandchildren, or neighbor kids. Make a difference.
As The Glass Castle author Jeannette Walls says in her memoir of an impoverished childhood, “One benefit of summer is that we had more light to read by.”
- Sherie Brown
Director
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