The impact of a three-week summer reading program on students' oral reading fluency

The impacts of a summer reading program on students' reading fluency were assessed. Fifteen students in grades first through seventh voluntarily attended a nine-day summer reading program. Participants who attended the program were a good representation of the other students in the school. The school was selected due to the high percentage of students from lower socioeconomic homes (i.e., 62% of 166 students qualified for free and reduced lunch), which can be associated with summer reading decline. All students' (participants and nonparticipants) reading fluency was assessed in the spring (pretest) using AIMSweb oral reading fluency curriculum based measurements (RCBMs). AIMSweb RCBMs were used again in the fall (posttest) to assess where the students who attended the summer reading program were in comparison to the same age nonparticipants. The results included participants making a 39-point total gain in words read correct for reading fluency, while the nonparticipants had a 25-point decline. Significance was found for the participants in relation to their RCBM scores improving from below the 50th percentile in the spring, to the 50th percentile or above after the program in the fall. The positive impact of this summer reading program is support for an effective summer intervention for students who are at-risk for summer reading decline.