The Achievement Gap Starts In the Summer

This week is First Book’s Summer Reading Week! Summer is an exciting time of year that provides students with the opportunity to relax and take a break from the demands of school. It is also the time of year when many students suffer summer learning and reading loss.

When students do not engage in educational activities -like reading- during the summer, students typically score lower on standardized tests at the end of summer vacation than they do on the same tests at the beginning of the summer. All students suffer reading loss when they are deprived of adequate educational opportunities, however, the impact on summer learning and reading loss is exasperated in lower-income communities. A lack of access to educational resources, like books, puts underprivileged students at even more of a disadvantage. In fact, more than half of the achievement gap between lower- and higher-income youth can be explained by unequal access to summer learning opportunities.

First Book would like to close the achievement gap and provide children in need with books so that they can continue to develop their reading skills throughout the summer. This summer we are launching a campaign to get 2 MILLION BOOKS to underprivileged kids throughout the country.  If you know of any programs or schools that serve underprivileged children, have them register with us to get books to their students (http://www.firstbook.org/receive-books).