During the summer of 2017, PEP, GCS, and Scholastic approached summer reading loss and related research by:
• providing 10 free, self-selected books to more than 18,000 students in grades 1–6 across 29 higher-needs elementary schools via the MSC Book Celebrations; 2
• hosting 27 Family Reading Night events to support family engagement;
• distributing more than 9,000 paper or digital surveys to students in grades 3–5 at the end of the school year in the spring, and at back-to-school time in the fall;
• distributing more than 18,000 paper book logs or digital book log accounts to track summer reading to students in grades 1–6; and
• distributing more than 1,000 surveys to families of students in MSC schools.
This Executive Summary contains findings based on responses from more than 5,000 students and nearly 150 family members. The findings should be interpreted with the understanding that there was not a comparison group of students; rather, this is an analysis of the unique results of all students participating in MSC. Additionally, this research does not account for additional summer learning or enrichment opportunities that students and families may have sought and participated in during the initiative. Key Findings Our study examined how student and family attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors about reading were impacted by MSC activities. The biggest takeaway from the two years of data is the consistency in the findings, which highlight positive trends in family engagement as well as positive student attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors regarding summer reading.
Data from 2016 and 2017 lead us to conclude:
• MSC is meeting its goals of building students’ home libraries, engaging families, and providing resources to help prevent summer reading loss.
2 Throughout this research, grade refers to the grade students were in when they returned to school in the fall of 2017.
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