Do Summer Reading Programs Make a Difference?
We’ve all heard about the benefits of summer reading programs, but do they really help? That’s what Susan Roman and her research staff at Dominican University want to find out. Roman, dean and professor at Dominican’s Graduate School of Library and Information Science, recently received a $290,224 three-year grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to explore the impact of public library summer reading clubs on disadvantaged third and fourth graders. The goal is to uncover whether these programs actually foster a love of reading and prevent “summer learning loss”—a lack of reading gains as a result of not reading during the summer, Roman says. “There’s no real hard data that shows the impact of summer reading programs.” Roman and her staff will track the reading scores of students who attend summer reading programs and those who don’t. Since some 95 percent of public libraries nationwide offer summer reading programs, the study will also look at the strengths and weaknes
