This Spotlight will help readers investigate one state's plan to improve literacy with daily summer reading instruction; review how teachers can better support struggling older readers; gain expert insights into strategies for boosting reading proficiency; evaluate the merits of audiobooks for improving reading engagement; explore how short bursts…

Thanks to urbanization, some developing countries have a large migrant population. Academic performance of migrant children is usually far from satisfactory, much to the concern of educators and legislators. Meanwhile, research has attested to the importance of reading skill development by the end of third grade for later academic achievement.…

Among the academic challenges faced by students from low-socioeconomic status (SES) homes is the loss of academic skills during the summer months. A total of 22 elementary students from low-SES homes participated in a summer program designed to improve oral and written narrative skills. We gathered oral and written narrative samples at the…

Literacy and literacy skill development remain critical concerns in the U.S. "Two of every three students in the U.S. do not have the necessary reading proficiencies to successfully complete grade-level work" (Allington, 2011). Camp Read-a-Rama, a summer day camp in South Carolina for 4- to 11-year-olds, creates innovative programming…

The Afterschool Alliance, in partnership with Dollar General Literacy Foundation, is proud to present this issue brief examining the vital role afterschool programs play to build students' literacy skills. This issue brief will explore the additional support needed to help students with their reading, writing and critical thinking skills, as well…

The purpose of this study was to investigate what happened when grade 11 high school honors students blogged about their summer reading under the monitoring of a teacher during vacation. I proposed that an educational blog might serve as an effective tool during summer vacation to help students retain skills or learning while at a physical…

Two versions of RAVE-O, a fluency-based reading intervention were examined over a 2-intervention period: a 9-month, 44-hour afterschool intervention program, and a month long, 44-hour summer intervention program. 80 children in grades 1-3 were tested on the two subtests of the Test of Word-Reading Efficiency and were assigned to one of 6 groups…

Developed for the America Reads Challenge Read*Write*Now! program, this tip sheet presents ideas and suggestions for strengthening efforts to help improve children's reading through community reading programs designed to keep children reading during the summer and after school. The tip sheet discusses building partnerships, recruiting volunteers,…

This Read*Write*Now! activity poster presents, on one side, a colorful image encouraging children to share the fun of reading and writing, and, on the other side, 6 activity sheets offering fun and challenging ideas for adults' reading time with children. The activities are designed to expand a child's interest in and enthusiasm for reading and…

This Read*Write*Now! activity poster presents, on one side, a colorful image of Arthur the Aardvark encouraging adults and children to share the fun of reading and writing, and, on the other side, 5 fun and challenging activities for reading time. The activities are designed to expand a child's interest in and enthusiasm for reading and writing…

This booklet presents suggestions for things people can do to help meet the America Reads Challenge of having all children read well and independently by the end of third grade. One of the ways to meet this challenge is through the research-based community reading initiative, called READ*WRITE*NOW!, which encourages students to read and write at…

A summer reading program can be designed to attract not just those teenagers who love to read, but also nonreaders who have yet to experience the joy of reading. This book gathers from library literature and previously unpublished accounts of recent programs and provides information about different kinds of summer reading programs designed…

Two combined second and third grade classrooms were observed throughout the five weeks of a summer school program to determine what "reading instruction" was in the contextual reality of classroom life. Observers viewed approximately 20 hours of reading instruction per week. In addition, they interviewed the classroom teachers informally as the…