D-15's New Summer Program Emphasizes Literacy

Sure it’s summer break, but that doesn’t mean teaching and learning isn’t occurring in District 15 schools.

This year, the District launched Summer Early Literacy Academies as a way to reach out to its emergent readers who need continued support over the summer months. The new program is operating out of seven sites across the District, but it serves students who have just completed kindergarten, first, and second grade from all 15 of the District’s elementary schools.

The academies are taught by District 15 teachers who are either reading specialists or have a strong background in reading instruction and reading intervention program assistants. District reading specialists worked together last spring to design the program based on the needs of the students they serve.

In fact, the academies are intended to serve as a continuation of the reading intervention programs the District offers to its emergent readers when they encounter struggles during the regular school year. Low student-to-teacher ratios ensure that each of the students invited to attend the academies receives plenty of individual attention throughout the day. Instruction focuses on the continued development of the students’ oral language and basic literacy skills, such as identification of letters and sight words, understanding of basic sounds, and expansion of vocabulary.

In the short term, the aim of the academies is to maintain the growth in literacy that the students made during the prior school year. Of course, maintaining that growth can have tremendous long-term effects on the students’ academic futures. Not surprisingly, research indicates that summer reading loss is greatest among students who’ve struggled to develop their literacy skills; they can sometimes lose as much as a quarter of a year of instruction over the break. Cumulatively, these summer reading losses can put struggling readers a full year behind their peers by the time they reach the upper grades. The District’s hope is that, by continuing to provide these students with literacy instruction over the summer break, these academies will help close that achievement gap.

-Story Submitted by Community Consolidated School District 15