Summer Reading Challenge Prevented Summer Slide for 80% of Participating Students
by Angie Matthiessen, Executive Director – United Way of Charlotte County
The expression Maintain Don’t Gain gets thrown around a lot near the holidays. It refers to the goal of eating just enough pumpkin pie that you don’t add any extra pounds to your waistline, while also not expecting to lose any extra pounds either. It’s hard to lose weight when you’re surrounded by sugar cookies, egg nog and Grandma’s homemade stuffing.
Maintaining your weight from November through January isn’t typically difficult (at least not compared to trying to lose weight this time of year). Those pounds want to stay where they are. But sometimes the act of maintaining something you’ve gained over the past year can be difficult.
You’ve heard me talk frequently about the Summer Slide, especially this year. With our students abruptly thrust into remote learning in March and many summer programs closed or with reduced capacity over the break, Summer Slide was a bigger concern in 2020 than it has ever been.
One of the key tools used to help our little learners maintain their reading level over the summer is the Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading’s Summer Reading Challenge for children in PreK through 3rd grade. In past years, the Summer Reading Challenge was implemented in partnership with summer camps and programs with children encouraged and incentivized to keep their brains active by reading all summer long.
In a COVID world, with many camps and programs cancelled or operating with fewer children and public libraries closed, there was a need to be inventive and flexible to ensure students had access to high-quality books while also remaining safe from any potential COVID exposure.
The Suncoast Campaign created a unique program called This Book is Cool! which offered participating children twenty free books over the course of the summer. This Book is Cool! covered five different grade levels, PreK – Grade 3, creating 100 unique and engaging webisodes that aired weekly for the benefit of young readers across Southwest Florida. Beth Duda, Director of the Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading served as the host. In each webisode, she introduced a new book, spoke to a special guest from the community about what made the book special, introduced five vocabulary building words, and highlighted an activity parents and children could do together that corresponded with the selected book.
In Charlotte County, 681 children participated in the program, either through a childcare facility, another youth serving program, or at home with their parents and caregivers, together, they read 20,021 books. The thoughtfully chosen books, the engaging webisodes, and entertaining activities highlighted the joy of reading and helped slow the summer slide.
With school back in session, students were given diagnostic tests to assess their current reading level. Children who participated in the Suncoast Summer Reading Challenge had their scores compared to the last diagnostic test administered before the COVID-19 school shutdowns. For the Suncoast Campaign region, which includes Charlotte, DeSoto, Sarasota and Manatee counties, 73% of participating students showed no reading skill loss over the summer. But the news In Charlotte County was even stronger, a tremendous 80% of students maintained their reading skills.
The Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading team deserves a virtual pat on the back for their extraordinary efforts this summer to keep our students’ academic success at the forefront of the public health and economic crisis.
Not only did they develop This Book is Cool! as a virtual way to connect with students, but they also made certain the children received their books. When parents were unable to pick up the free books included in the program, Super Engagers went the extra mile, literally, to drop them off at their homes. These dedicated Super Engagers connected with families each week, calling and texting them to offer encouragement, demonstrate caring, and deliver support to help them stay motivated all summer long.
The effort and determination of these Super Engagers and all partners made this program succeed and resulted in 80% of our participating students going back to school at the same reading level as they left in the spring. This is one of the many bright spots that this year should be remembered for.
That and the pumpkin pie.
For more information, please call the United Way of Charlotte County at 941-627-3539. Mission: Mobilizing the power of our community to break the cycle of poverty. Angie Matthiessen is the Executive Director of United Way of Charlotte County. She can be reached at director@unitedwayccfl.org.