Closing the summer learning gap for vulnerable learners: an exploratory study of a summer literacy programme for kindergarten children at‐risk for reading difficulties

The cost of school holidays for children from low income families

“…Research on summer learning loss shows that during the school holidays, children’s learning is not only at risk of stagnating but regressing, and that this decline may be more pronounced in children from low-income families, as well as for children with learning disabilities and children for whom English is a second language ( Graham et al, 2012 ; Kerry and Davies, 1998 ). Some have argued that summer learning loss is the main factor behind the attainment gap between the richest and poorest students and that this is predominately driven by the inequalities experienced during the summer holidays ( Alexander et al, 2016 ; Blazer, 2011 ).…”

Summer Learning Loss among Elementary School Children with Reading Disabilities

“…One example of a summer program that has some evidence in reversing the summer learning phenomenon comes from Graham et al (2011). These authors implemented a 5-week reading intervention that included a family involvement piece.…”

“…Summer programs for students with RD need to include these characteristics, and based on the results of the current study, skills such as phoneme segmentation and rapid word naming should be targeted to help the student with RD develop and maintain reading fluency. Results such as those from Graham et al (2011) suggest that summer interventions for children with reading problems should prove to be a worthwhile endeavour. However, because students do not tend to be diagnosed with RDs until around Grade 3 (Learning Disabilities Association of Canada, 2007), programs such as the one suggested by Graham et al will need to be broadened in order to be applicable to older RD-diagnosed children and their families.…”

“…Finally, Graham, McNamara, and Van Lankveld (2011) investigated the efficacy of a summer family literacy program in improving the reading achievement of at-risk students. Students deemed to be at high risk in their study included those with lower academic achievement due to learning disabilities and/or language impairments, lower SES, or learning in a non-native language.…”

“…This represents a very early intervention, and floor effects are therefore possible. Graham et al (2011) also acknowledged that their sample size of 14 was quite small and that their study did not include a control group. However, the finding that the children who participated in this summer intervention did not demonstrate summer reading regression is important to note, as it suggests that at-risk children should be able to avoid summer regression if an intervention were in place for them.…”