How to support families to prevent the summer slide in reading

May 6, 2025 by ttacinfo

Photos of children enjoying summer activities while reading

In January 2025, the National Assessment of Educational Progress released reading and mathematics test scores for Grades 4 and 8, revealing a statistically significant decline in reading performance between 2022 and 2024 (National Assessment of Educational Progress, (n.d.); Schwartz, 2025). These data raise an urgent question: How can educators support students and their families during the summer to prevent further declines caused by the so-called “summer slide?”

To answer this question, it is key to understand what the term summer slide means. According to an article published by David Quinn and Morgan Polikoff of the Brookings Institution (2017), summer slide is not a new phenomenon. Research on this topic dates back to 1906. Over the last almost 120 years, researchers have noted that many students tend to slide in their level of understanding during the summer months. This conclusion is based on a review of various test scores students completed in the spring of one year compared to similar tests they completed in the fall of the next school year (Quinn & Polikoff, 2017). What these studies revealed, along with more recent meta-analyses of the data available on this topic, is that the level of student understanding may regress over the summer by as much as one month (Quinn & Polikoff, 2017; Thum & Kuhfeld, 2020). Additionally, it was observed that “the extent of loss was larger at higher grade levels” (Quinn & Polikoff, 2017, para. 2). Furthermore, reading gaps over the summer tend to have a connection to the student’s socioeconomic status, with students of lower socioeconomic status experiencing more significant learning loss than their counterparts who may be identified as middle or high socioeconomic status (Austrew, 2022; NPC Research, 2015; Thum & Kuhfeld, 2020).

What can be done to help prevent our students from falling farther behind in their reading skills over the summer? The short answer is to engage students in some form of summer reading program (NPC Research, 2015). While school-based summer reading programs may yield a more consistent, evidence-based instructional approach, it is recognized that student attendance may be poor and/or school divisions may not have the funding or personnel to offer this type of programming. That still leaves the question of “What can be done?” The answer is to help families by sharing tips they can use to encourage their children to read over the summer and to prepare our students for their summer reading journey before they leave our classroom (edmentum, 2024). Here are tips support summer reading:

Encourage non-school-related summer reading.
1. Link families to resources at the local library and in the community.
2. Send books home with students before they leave for the summer.
3. Discuss the different reading materials students could read over the summer and link them to these resources.
4. Help students create a summer learning challenge (see below) so they have a plan for how they will engage over the summer.
Encourage students to join a summer reading program (e.g., at the public library).
1. If your local library does not have a summer reading program, then consider creating one for your school or division.
Encourage families to use summer vacations as learning opportunities where students can research and read about locations or attractions before they go.
Encourage summer field trips and engage students in researching and reading about the location before they go (e.g., local library, museum, zoo).
1. Brainstorm with students before they leave for the summer about the places they might visit on the summer field trips and share resources with families.
2. These field trips could be part of the summer learning challenge you help students create before they leave for the summer.
Create a 30-day summer learning challenge i.e., develop a summer calendar) that incorporates a variety of activities for students, with reading and writing embedded throughout (see suggestions above for what might be included in this 30-day challenge) (edmentum, 2024; Francis, 2024).

Here are additional resources with ideas to engage students in reading (and other topics) over the summer as well as resources to share with families to get them thinking about the summer now:

Austrew, A. (2022, August 2). How to prevent your kids from losing what they learned in school during summer vacation. Scholastic.

Edmentum. (2024, March 18). Summer planning tips for parents. Edmentum.

Rippel, M. (n.d.). How to beat the summer slide. All about Learning Press.

Thomas, A. (n.d.). How to make a summer calendar. Twinkl.

References

Austrew, A. (2022, August 2). How to prevent your kids from losing what they learned in school during summer vacation. Scholastic.

Edmentum. (2024, March 17). Ten ways to keep students learning over summer. Edmentum.

Francis, J. (2024, May 1). Summer learning loss: Tips and activities to keep students engaged. Seattle’s Child.

National Assessment of Educational Progress. (n.d.). NAEP report card: Reading. The Nation’s Report Card.

NPC Research. (2015). Summer reading [White paper]. Collaborative Summer Library Program.

Quinn, D., & Polikoff, M. (2017, September 14). Summer learning loss: What is it, and what can we do about it? Brookings.

Schwartz, S. (2025). Reading scores fall to new low on NAEP, fueled by declines for struggling students. Education Week.
Thum, Y., & Kuhfeld, M. (2020). NWEA 2020 MAP growth achievement status and growth norms for students and schools. NWEA.