Topic: Reading in the Summer

Question: How much reading over the summer led to gains in reading scores?

Answer: Quote: “One study that treats these questions has recently been published by Barbara Heyns in a book titled Summer Learning and the Effects of Schooling. A sociologist at Berkeley, Heyns conducted a study of about 3,000 sixth and seventh grade children in Atlanta in 1972.”

Quote: “The amount of reading influenced reading achievement in this investigation; children who read six or more books gained an average of .2 grade equivalent over the summer. In contrast, children who read fewer than six books did not change in reading grade equivalent over the summer. The increment in reading achievement reported here seems small. A gain of .2 of a year seems hardly noticeable. Of course, many children who read six or more books gained dramatically more reading achievement, and some children gained substantially less. There was also wide variation for those who read fewer than six books.”

Title: “How Much to Read.” JT Guthrie. Reading Teacher (October 1979), 110-111.