Texas School Districts Engage in Education Research to Examine the Impact of a Summer Reading Program

Learning loss of academic skills and knowledge often takes place during summer months while students are on vacation. This is commonly referred to as “summer learning loss,” where academic gains made during the school year may not continue across the summer and into the following school year. Students from low income backgrounds may be especially vulnerable to this loss. Several leading Texas school districts are participating in a rigorous research study, How a Summer Reading Intervention Based on Lexiles Affects Reading Comprehension, which seeks to minimize this learning loss through the use of a volunteer summer reading program. The study is sponsored by REL Southwest at Edvance Research, one of ten national education research laboratories funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.

Study Overview

The research study includes participation from four school districts in Texas including Cypress-Fairbanks and Klein ISDs in the Houston region as well as Austin ISD. The study commenced in summer 2009, with school participation estimated for completion in mid-fall of 2009. Eligible participants include low-income 3 ^rd grade students with TAKS reading scores below 2262 (a score of 2100 or higher is considered passing). Students receive free books based on their reading preferences and individual reading ability.

Click here for study overview

Study at a Glance

Total number of Participating 3 rd grade Students		1,790
Number of Treatment Students		901
Number of Control Students		889
Number of Free Books Distributed		7,000+

What is the benefit to schools participating in the study?

“Participating districts benefitted from an organized summer reading program, while striving to make a difference through cutting edge research,” states Donald Barfield, Associate Lab Director at REL Southwest. “Schools are increasingly looking to improve outcomes through the use of evidence-based strategies.”

Through participation in this research study, schools will receive FREE of charge:

• The opportunity for students to offset summer learning loss and increase reading comprehension
• 8 free books provided to all treatment and control students
• Research evidence based on student performance
• The opportunity to work with leading researchers in a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT), the gold-standard in research methodology

REL Southwest serves the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas and works for the benefit of over 7 million students and 500,000 teachers in approximately 14,500 schools in grades pre-kindergarten through college in this five-state region.

Founded in 2005, Edvance Research, Inc. is a women and minority, employee owned business, specializing in rigorous product, policy and market research, in the education market. Edvance Research is dedicated to improving outcomes by supporting organizations in learning about evidence-based practices and using that information to improve their work and results. www.edvanceresearch.com

Technical assistance may be obtained through REL Southwest Research ReadySource ™ by calling 1-877-EDVANCE (1-877-338-2623) or e-mailing RELinfo@edvanceresearch.com.