The literacy scores of children in South Carolina are among the lowest in the nation. The future for these children, if left unchanged, is bleak. In 2011, The University of South Carolina’s findings from the S.C. Reading First Initiative, “Learning to Read: Growth in the School Year and Summer Loss,” reported students’ achievement growth was severely hindered and the greatest summer learning loss was experienced when risk factors such as poverty and reading below grade level were present. In Richland County alone, one in five children lives in poverty and between 82-98% of students receives free/reduced lunch. The top two recommendations of the Dominican Research Report’s Executive Summary are to “1) recognize the significant role public libraries play to close the achievement gap and, 2) promote the powerful role public libraries play in helping children maintain and gain reading skills.” The academic success of children from low-income families will require an engaged community of partners mobilized to remove barriers, expand opportunities, and engage parents as partners in the success of their children. Richland Library convened a learning network of stakeholders to transform the typical summer reading enrichment activities into summer reading intervention strategies focused on students with multiple risk factors to promote school success and, ultimately, graduate high school prepared for college, a career, and engaged citizenship.

Strategic collaborations were critical to eliminating barriers to summer learning most prevalent with families living in poverty such as cost, transportation and attendance. Skillful negotiations with the school district released student data and provided bus transportation; United Way engaged 30+ volunteers; and Midlands Reading Consortium identified 30+ low-income students reading below grade level. Offering cost-free tutoring and parent incentives contingent on their student’s participation were essential to bolstering consistent attendance. The mentoring relationship was at the core of learner-centered sessions, which included one-on-one tutoring tailored to the student’s specific reading deficits, enrichment activities that inspired a love of reading and books, and nourishment to silence their hunger so they could focus on learning. The training provided by a retired Reading Recovery teacher empowered tutors with strategies and resources to effectively access the students’ needs and implement a plan for improvement. At each session, students were encouraged to select their own books to deepen their interests and discover new worlds. This effort culminated in more than 30 books for each home library. Choosing their own books caused great anticipation and enthusiasm as students began reading their books and showing their friends. Many students talked about reading to their younger siblings and parents. The zenith concluding Project Summer Stride was the family luncheon to celebrate the students’ achievements, an event rarely experienced by these low achieving students and their families. The excitement was palpable. Each student came to the stage for pictures as tutors distributed reading medals and certificates of achievement. To culminate the event, each student received a new book bag filled with school supplies to build confidence toward the coming school year.

Typical public library summer reading programs appeal more to engaged readers and supportive families with available transportation. Unfortunately, the library field has very little evidence to demonstrate how the public library can mitigate summer learning loss for students at greatest risk. Richland Library employed the services of the University of South Carolina’s Office of Program Evaluation (OPE) to promote evidence-based methods based on best practices in the field, as well as research-based decision-making through systematic inquiry.

The anticipated outcomes included:

1. provide 30 low income students reading below grade level with reading interventions to prevent summer learning loss and positively affect their attitudes about reading;
2. determine the feasibility of the library’s capacity to offer one-on-one tutoring to positively affect summer learning loss; and
3. explore the library’s civic action to find and deploy community solutions to address barriers to summer learning.

For goal one, OPE reported 72% of the students attended regularly, primarily due to parent incentives and bus transportation. Pre/post assessments revealed all students made moderate gains on three of the four assessments. According to school data, approximately 50% maintained or improved their Dominie scores on standardized testing. OPE reported 100% of students gained a more positive outlook on reading, greater interest in reading, and demonstrated major literacy concepts. For goal two and three, OPE offered recommendations regarding staffing needs, transportation challenges, tutor coverage and shared responsibilities of stakeholders. OPE commended the library on the innovative model for summer learning, tutor training and the foresight to provide nourishment.