United Way Logo
Search
Search
Menu
Newsletter
Keep Me Informed! Sign up for updates from United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley.
Join Our Mailing List
Events
News
Donate
Search for:
See The Impact
Education
Food Access
Healthy Aging
Emergency Services
Results
United Way Partners
Take Action
Give
Advocate
Volunteer
Racial Justice and Equity
COVID-19
Find Resources
Resource Center
For Individuals
For Corporations
For Campaign Coordinators
For Nonprofits
For Community Schools
Media Center
Learn About United Way
100th Anniversary
What We Do
Why We Do It
How We Do It
Who We Are
Financial Reports and Policies
Investments
Search for:
News
Home
|
News
|
February 2017
|
United Way Fights the "Summer Slide"
United Way Fights the "Summer Slide"
Published: February 23, 2017
During the summer months, students risk losing 2-3 months of learning math and reading skills if they aren't engaged in learning, this is called the "summer slide." Without books and computers in the home and family resources to afford high quality summer camps, low income youth are at a greater risk of the summer slide than their peers.
Lehigh Valley Summer Learning Coalition (LVSLC) is making a difference!
Since 2014, the LVSLC has worked to help raise community awareness of the harmful impact of the summer slide, improve the quality of summer providers and ultimately increase access to affordable summer learning programs.
"Summer learning allows our students to reinforce and extend foundational reading skills in a more personalized manner, and the reading data shows that the continuity of literacy instruction over 12 months significantly helps BASD students. We are thankful to our community partnering and coordinating with us to keep children learning over the summer." - Assistant Superintendent for Education/Chief Academic Officer for the Bethlehem Area School District, Dr. Jack Silva.
LVSLC efforts to expand access to summer programming are paying off!
From 2014 to 2016, Bethlehem, Allentown and Easton have seen a
6% overall increase in the number of low income youth engaged in summer learning
(from 35% to 41%). This is the result of awareness efforts by the LVSLC and donations secured from local corporations, banks, foundations and individuals.
Dramatic increases in the number of elementary-aged students engaged in summer learning opportunities!
Low income students not reading at grade level by the end of 3rd grade are 13 times more likely to drop out of school. Engaging younger students in summer learning is key to achieving reading proficiency in time.
A
284% increase
in Easton (up from 106 to 411)
A
116% increase
in Bethlehem (up from 152 to 329)
A
12% increase
in Allentown (up from 470 to 530)
The right amount of quality summer learning beats the "summer slide"!
Across both school-based and community-based summer programs where students receive the right amount of both academic and enrichment programming (between 100-150 hours), we see great results. On average, 94% of students were able to maintain their spring reading levels with between 10-30% of students actually gaining at least one month in reading levels. Additionally, 8 in 10 summer providers made sure their students read at least 30 minutes per day while in their programs.
"One young boy struggled with both academic and good behavior all school year. We debated about putting him in our summer program because of his bad behavior, but in the end decided to give him a chance. Let me tell you, he was a completely different kid in our summer program! With the small class sizes, extra help, and fun activities, he became a real leader and came every day with a big smile on his face. It was absolutely unbelievable the change our summer program had on this boy." - Tonya Swavely, Principal at Cleveland Elementary School.
Comments
Blog post currently doesn't have any comments.
Summer Learning
Post archive
January 2023(
4
)
December 2022(
7
)
November 2022(
4
)
October 2022(
7
)
September 2022(
6
)
August 2022(
5
)
July 2022(
6
)
June 2022(
9
)
May 2022(
3
)
April 2022(
3
)
March 2022(
9
)
February 2022(
2
)
January 2022(
5
)
December 2021(
9
)
November 2021(
7
)
October 2021(
4
)
September 2021(
6
)
August 2021(
5
)
July 2021(
9
)
June 2021(
7
)
May 2021(
2
)
April 2021(
9
)
March 2021(
7
)
February 2021(
3
)
January 2021(
4
)
December 2020(
5
)
November 2020(
6
)
October 2020(
6
)
September 2020(
5
)
August 2020(
7
)
July 2020(
6
)
June 2020(
5
)
May 2020(
3
)
April 2020(
2
)
March 2020(
3
)
February 2020(
3
)
January 2020(
3
)
December 2019(
6
)
November 2019(
11
)
October 2019(
3
)
September 2019(
7
)
August 2019(
9
)
July 2019(
1
)
June 2019(
2
)
May 2019(
8
)
April 2019(
5
)
March 2019(
4
)
February 2019(
7
)
January 2019(
4
)
December 2018(
2
)
November 2018(
3
)
October 2018(
3
)
September 2018(
10
)
August 2018(
5
)
July 2018(
3
)
June 2018(
10
)
May 2018(
4
)
April 2018(
5
)
March 2018(
10
)
February 2018(
3
)
January 2018(
4
)
December 2017(
5
)
November 2017(
3
)
October 2017(
3
)
September 2017(
2
)
August 2017(
5
)
July 2017 (
4
)
June 2017(
3
)
May 2017(
9
)
April 2017(
4
)
March 2017(
8
)
February 2017(
12
)
January 2017(
8
)
December 2016(
11
)
November 2016 (
19
)
October 2016(
15
)
September 2016 (
5
)
August 2016(
5
)
July 2016(
6
)
June 2016(
9
)
May 2016 (
6
)
April 2016(
7
)
March 2016(
9
)
February 2016(
12
)
January 2016(
3
)
December 2015(
9
)
November 2015(
11
)
October 2015(
3
)
September 2015(
4
)
August 2015 (
1
)
July 2015 (
1
)
June 2015(
4
)
May 2015(
5
)
April 2015 (
2
)
March 2015(
5
)
February 2015(
6
)
January 2015(
2
)
December 2014(
5
)
November 2014(
4
)
October 2014(
4
)
September 2014(
8
)
August 2014(
9
)
July 2014(
3
)
June 2014(
4
)
May 2014(
5
)
April 2014(
4
)
March 2014(
7
)
February 2014(
5
)
January 2014(
4
)
Share this Article
Tweet
Show me how my $$ Makes A Difference
Please insert a dollar amount below
$
could help United Way provide:
Make a donation today