Taking the Show on the Road: Summer Library Program Outreach

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Taking the Show on the Road Summer Library
Program Outreach

• Roxane Bartelt
• Shawn Brommer
• Kelly Hughbanks
• WLA - 2006 Annual Conference

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Summer reading loss economics

• Summer reading loss is a key factor contributing
  to achievement gap
• Children living from low-income families have
  less access to books
• Lower-achieving students are less likely to read
  out of school
• Those comfortable reading are more likely to
  choose recreational reading

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Access to books

• Children from low-income families are less likely
  to have discretionary funds
• Schools that serve children from low-income
  families often have fewer books in school
  libraries
• Public libraries can break these cycles and get
  materials into the homes of children who do not
  have their own books

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More summer loss

• Children who dont read over the summer lose 3
  months of reading comprehension
• Accumulative by the end of 6th grade these
  kids are 2 school years behind their peers
• Middle school is too late

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The good news

• Reading as few as 4 books keeps kids at their
  current reading levels
• Young children with richer home literacy
  environments succeed when they begin school
• Give em what they want!
• Free to choose

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SLP and family literacy

• Consider adding a family component
• Parents persist in family literacy programs
  longer than other types of adult literacy
  programs
• Parents social awareness and self-advocacy
  increases with quality family literacy programs
• Parents attitude towards education improves

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SLP and family literacy, cont.

• Families learn to value education
• Families become more involved in schools
• Families become emotionally closer
• Families read more and engage in more literate
  behaviors at home
• Families build foundations for lifelong learning

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Society benefits from strong family literacy
programs

• Fewer nutrition and health problems
• Lower dropout rates
• Lower teen parents rates
• Lower joblessness and welfare dependancy
• Less social alienation
• Less home and community violence
• Benefits everyone!

Ohio Literacy Center, Kent State, 4/03
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Spread the word

• Teachers, administrators, media specialists
• Parents
• Legislators great advocacy tool
• Social service agencies
• Community businesses

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Statistics justify SLP outreach

• Kids who do not read over the summer fall behind
  their classmates (2 years behind)
• Nearly impossible to catch up
• We need to get books into homes
• Summer program helps teachers
• Family literacy benefits everyone
• Economic impact of SLP

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And now, some examples!