Program Goals

The goal of Summer Reads is to help low-income children and children with limited English proficiency in grades K-3 maintain or improve their reading skills over the summer.  Research shows that children from low-income families traditionally lose reading skills over the summer months and therefore enter school less prepared than their more affluent peers. This phenomenon is referred to as the "summer slide." 

Summer Associates will work in the cities of Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth.  They will work with children, principally in grades K-3, in neighborhoods with particular concentrations of poverty and academic need. The Minneapolis and Saint Paul Public School Systems have recognized a need to work with younger students to prevent such a high failure rate in the future.  

The expected output and outcomes for the Summer Reads Program are as follows:

Output: At least 60 children are tutored 5 days per week for 5 weeks during St. Paul Summer School.

Intermediate Outcome: Children tutored will record a greater WPM gain than the control students, demonstrating the positive effect of one-to-one tutoring.

End Outcome: Children tutored by Summer Associates maintain or increase their reading scores and are better prepared for the school year.

Other outcomes:

1. Serve at least 300 students in Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth Summer Schools.
2. Serve at least 3,000 children in Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth community programs.
3. Read at least 1,000 books with students in Minneapolis and St. Paul Summer Schools.
4. Read at least 4,000 books with children in Minneapolis and St. Paul community programs.
5. Distribute at least 500 books to children in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Program Partners

In addition to the Minnesota Literacy Council, partner organizations in this project include: Minneapolis and Saint Paul Public Libraries, Minneapolis and Saint Paul Public Schools, Boys and Girls Clubs, Minneapolis and Saint Paul Community Education, and Minneapolis Kids.  Each of the partner organizations has an extensive history of working with children.  Each of the lead partners contributes staff resources to assist with training the Summer Associates.