By May 2018, every Iowa school district will be required to have a third grade summer reading program in place. New research shows that Iowa’s summer reading programs are successful, but there are some areas that need work. Siouxland Public Media’s Mary Hartnett has this report.
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The Iowa Reading Research Center looked at 43 school districts, including Sioux City, Hinton, Lawton-Bronson and Woodbury Central. Researchers found that the districts succeeded preventing summer “brain drain”. However, principle investigator and director of the research center Deborah Reed says there was a shortage of state certified reading teachers.
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“There was one district in the state that could not identify teachers and they had to drop out of the study before it even began.”
Reed adds that it was hard for some families with two working parents even get their children to and from the reading program.
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“Does there need to be a supplement to the summer program to extend the summer school day beyond those three or four hours of the reading instruction part so these kids are taken care of.”
Reed says the study provides some important information that districts across the state can use in setting up their own summer reading programs. For Siouxland Public Media, I’m Mary Hartnett.
For Siouxland Public Media, I’m Mary Hartnett.
