Summer Success®: Reading

Funding Options Title I Title IC Title III Improving Literacy Through School Libraries Reading First Special Ed Supplemental Services Math & Science Partnerships 21st Century Private Funding

ummer Success: Reading is a complete and comprehensive program designed to help struggling learners become fluent readers through the use of current research and time-tested best practices from successful reading teachers.

Research

Struggling readers who take a break from reading during summer vacation risk falling even further behind (Cooper, et al, 1996). For students who struggle with reading, summer school offers an opportunity to focus on reading without the distractions of a typical school year. To advance students’ reading ability during a summer-school course, they require intensive intervention using the best available teaching strategies.

Summer Success: Reading is designed as a 6-week course that immerses students in literature and gives them intensive instruction in the tools they need to become skilled readers. According to Laura Robb (1995), “To bring children and books together successfully, children have to experience the pleasures of reading. They have to hear stories, make predictions, visualize characters, talk about plot twists, imagine story settings, emotionally respond to characters, and think with new information.” Summer Success: Reading gives students all these rich experiences with reading and more. Immersion allows children to see and hear fluent reading models, practice reading a variety of selections at appropriate difficulty levels, and respond to text in creative ways. Instruction in word-identification skills and oral and silent reading help develop students’ independence in decoding and an ability to read fluently. Instruction in comprehension strategies promotes independent understanding and appreciation of books and stories.

Great Source Research and Efficacy Reports Available

Download the complete Summer Success: Reading Research and Efficacy report Download the Summer Success: Reading correlation to Reading First

Evaluation and Assessment

Summer Success: Reading includes pre- and post-tests that allow teachers to identify students’ areas of weakness and track growth and daily assessment strategies to help teachers monitor student progress with particular skills and strategies.

Professional Development

Summer Success: Reading is composed of easy-to-use, research-based components designed to be effective with a minimum amount of training.   Professional development is often helpful to guarantee quality implementations at the teacher and administrative level.  The content of this on-site training will vary based on the needs of students and teacher. Contact your Great Source representative for information and availability.

Parental Involvement

Summer Success: Reading includes take-home weekly newsletters, stories, and activities to extend learning into the home and involve parents in meaningful ways with their children’s education. (Newsletters also available in Spanish.)

	Grant applications often ask for detailed narrative on Great Source products. You may be required to include information on a product's scientific background, its efficacy research, assessments, the professional development model, or correlation to core programs and state standards. The content of this page is designed to help you fill this requirement. If more information is required, contact your local Great Source representative.