Free lessons help stem summer slide

All students lose knowledge and skills over the summer, but the effect is even more dramatic for children in low-income families.

Known as the "summer slide," the lack of learning over the summer accounts for as much as 85 percent of the reading achievement gap between lower income and upper income students, research shows. Most of this comes from a lack of access to free quality summer education opportunities.

But INFOhio, a digital library that offers free services to pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students, wants to help stem the summer slide for all students.

The digital library is offering "Beach Bags" for children in kindergarten through third grade to practice reading skills. The program was launched last year and was downloaded nearly 20,000 times, said Laura Sponhour, outreach specialist at INFOhio.

The materials allow children to learn about different careers, such as police officers, the president and veterinarians, while keeping their reading skills up to snuff.

Reading skills are especially important with the third-grade reading guarantee that requires third grade students to meet a minimum score on state reading tests before moving on to the next grade, Sponhour said.

In December, 31,000 students statewide received a score of "limited proficiency" after the first exam — the lowest score. However, very few students had to repeat third grade last year; 88 percent of students passed some version of the test.

INFOhio's downloads help students practice their reading over the summer. Children who read four or more books over the summer fared better on reading comprehension tests than peers who read one or no books during that time regardless of ethnic or socioeconomic background, according to an American Academy of Arts and Sciences study.

"If they don't practice over the summer, you tend to lose skill. It's important for kids to keep up with that," Sponhour said.

More than 367,000 children and teens participated in a summer reading program through their libraries last year, said Janet Ingraham Dwyer, a library consultant with the State Library of Ohio. That's a large number but libraries are always hoping to increase enrollment in the free programs.

Libraries are even offering activities for children before they reach kindergarten, such as playing with alphabet blocks, engaging in imaginative play and learning how to hold books. Every lesson helps prepare children for literacy, Ingraham Dwyer said.

For older children, INFOhio launched Camp INFOhio — science, technology, engineering, art and math material for children between fourth and sixth grades — this year. The lessons, which can be downloaded from INFOhio's website, offer five full days of activities from breaking codes and experimenting with kitchen science to designing roller coasters and creating musical instruments.

"We want it to be fun. Science is fun, and math can be a lot of fun," Sponhour said.

She suggested that children and parents work on the activities together. They can divide up the lessons to make them last more than five days. Those without access to technology can download INFOhio's activities at their local library.

"Kids are made to learn new things, so why should we give that up for two and a half, three months out of the year?" Sponhour asked.

Libraries have offered summer reading programs for more than a century, but have just learned how beneficial they can be, Ingraham Dwyer said. Free library programs are a great option for families who cannot afford summer camp, zoo trips or other pricy ways to keep children learning over the summer, she added.

"We recently became aware that there is a real connection between countering the summer slide and the activities we offer during the summer," she said.

INFOhio's materials can be accessed at www.INFOhio.org.

jbalmert@gannett.com

740-328-8548

Twitter: @jbalmert