Ep 14 | Can We Prevent Summer Slide?

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Many of our students live in what we call book deserts. They don't have books at home, and unfortunately, they may not have that person to take them to the library. So this gives them an opportunity to build their own library at home. And then those students attending summer school, they get to pick an additional two to four books before they leave summer school. And so now they can have eight books at home to build their own little library.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support every student's success. Summertime is a year-long anticipated break for both students and teachers. But going back to school can feel like academic whiplash for a lot of students. Known as the Summer Slide, some research suggests that students lose three months of reading progress during summer break. My next guest is hoping to close that achievement gap with a district-wide summer-long reading program. Today she's going to share how the program works and who it's working for. Coordinator of Media Services for Escambia County, Pensacola High School graduate, digital librarian, Michelle White. Thanks for being here. Hello, thanks for having me today. I was so excited to learn about this program. First, I, you know, heard about in Pensacola the tiny libraries. Do you know what I'm talking about? The little houses that look like little fairy houses with books. And now this program. Do you think are paper books like making a comeback?

SPEAKER_00 1:46

I don't think they ever went away. I think when we went to more ebooks, it just gave another option for all of our readers. And so if you're very comfortable reading digital, it's there for you. If you want the book itself, you can still get the book. If you're an audio book, it never went away. It just gave more options.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

Well, I love it. I have so many memories as a kid. Um, as I told you off mic, my grandmother was a teacher of a one-room schoolhouse in Nebraska, and reading was very important. I remember one time I told her I didn't like to read, and she literally smacked me on the head. But she took us to the local library and we had such a great time picking out books. And um, so I have all these nostalgic feelings about it. Um, but I was sad to learn that there sometimes is a decline during summer for reading skills. How true is that for Escambia County kids? Are they really experiencing a summer slide?

SPEAKER_00 2:43

We don't have the data specifically for our students on a summer slide, but statistically across our country, there is a slide during the summer of predictably three months. And it's simply because they're not reading. And too many of our families and our our students, they don't have that grandmother to take them to the library. And to smack them on the head. And to smack them on the hat. But that's just not an option for you. And so that's where we're really excited about our summer reading program.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

Has this program been successful in other counties in Florida?

SPEAKER_00 3:12

I have not seen one to this scale in Florida itself. I have read studies across the country, specifically in Tennessee and Virginia, where they did similar programs where students got to pick their books to read over the summer and had simple touchbacks to keep them engaged. And they saw not only a they stopped that slide, but many of the students also had a three-month gain in reading. So it was a really a six-month swing that is there, that is potential for our students to not have the three-month slide. And if they really are engaged in reading, they can have a three-month gain, which is what you would expect to see during the school year. For every month, you expect to see a month of gain in reading. So if they continue to read over the school year, you stop the slide and you have the potential for a gain. So statistically, the studies are there to support the summer reading initiative.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

That is major to not just not get behind, but to actually get ahead. Correct. And you said touchbacks, what does that mean?

SPEAKER_00 4:11

So for us, we're doing very simple touchbacks. And because giving the students the books, that's not enough. We want to continue to engage them in reading. So the media specialists have been given six hours of pay time in June and six hours of pay time in July to re-engage our students with reading. Some of that is virtual. They can do virtual book clubs. Some of it is using their school social media, face to uh Facebook, Instagram, call outs, and meet um social media pushes, email, text. Are your students reading? Make sure they're logged their minutes and beanstack. Um, what book did they pick out? Have they liked the best? And then some are offering events on their campuses, burgers and books, um, reading night at Scenic Heights. One of the middle schools today is doing talk about books. Oh, that's so cute! The culinary program is coming in and making tacos, and they have a special collection of books available for the students to read and engage. So again, it's it's that constant, easy touchbacks of remember to read. And so, because it's so easy to just pick up the digital device. And we want them, instead of picking up that digital device, pick up the book.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

Yeah, that's amazing. Real quick, just one inch closer, the mic keeps cutting out. There we go. There we go. There we go, make sure we get all the good stuff. Okay. You mentioned BeanStack. We said they're logging their minutes. What does that mean?

SPEAKER_00 5:43

So Beanstack is like a Fitbit for reading. And it's a um digital program that's web accessed, or the parents or the students can download an app and they log their minutes. And so as they log five minutes, ten minutes, sixty minutes, they earn badges for their reading. And if they log five days in a row, they get a you're on a hot streak and uh post a picture of you reading outside, so they earn an activity badge. Um, tell us about your favorite book, and they do a simple writing activity. That's an activity badge. So it's like a Fitbit for reading, and it's that instantaneous award um recognition for logging those minutes.

SPEAKER_01 6:24

It makes me think of Duolingo. Yes. When I'm when I'm doing that, don't always. It also reminds me of um it, you know, I'm an 80s baby. So the Book It program, oh man, I wish I kept my buttons. But then we got a personal pan pizza, not just a P. I didn't have to share it with my brother. It was a big deal. So are the rewards that the students are getting mostly virtual in the form of badges, or are there some in real life rewards as well?

SPEAKER_00 6:55

So right now they're earning virtual rewards. And when they come back to school in the fall, they will get actual prizes. And that's up to a $100 gift card for our highest students, uh, pizza from some of our local pizza um businesses, donuts, uh, Krispy Kreme has offered to reward donuts, one of our chocolate stores downtown, um, some of our ice cream shops. So, and then they love, they love these little brag tags. They look like little army um tags. And so it's like uh 30 minutes an hour, and it has just a simple little character on it. And they love those and they earn them again in increments of what they've been reading.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

That is incredible. I love that so much that it incentivizes them um to go back to school because you know, not only does it prevent the educational whiplash that I mentioned at the beginning, but also that reluctance.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

Right. And we tried to have a range of prizes, not just the top reader, because you can only have one top. But we want everybody to record their minutes and we want to make sure we recognize all of them. So we have a whole range of prizes for them when they come back in the fall.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

So are the students just reading um like things online or their own books? How how do they so how is the material selected?

SPEAKER_00 8:16

As far as what they're recording their minutes, I just want them to read. If they are reading a comic book, a newspaper, an online website, a blog, or the books, we want them to record their minutes that they're reading. But the the great thing about our program is that at the end of the school year, every student got to pick two to four books self-selected to read over the summer. And that's really important. Students who self-select their books are 80 to 90 percent more likely to finish it than is if here's four books, I hope you like them. So they got to pick from graphic novels, historical fiction, nonfiction, um, humor, thrillers, um, picture books, up through dense chapter books. And so they had that choice and voice of what they read, and that's so important, especially during summer reading. Summer's fun. They get they're not in school. We want them to check out and have some fun, but we also want to keep them engaged in reading. So having that choice is very important. And do they keep the books or do they just bring them back when the school year starts? No, they get to keep the books, and that is huge. Um, you took you mentioned again your grandmother taking you to the library. Many of our students live in what we call book deserts. They don't have books at home, and unfortunately, they may not have that person to take them to the library. So this gives them an opportunity to build their own library at home. And then those students attending summer school, they get to pick an additional two to four books before they leave summer school. And so now they can have eight books at home to build their own little library.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

And this program is across the county.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

It is across the county for K through 12th grade students. So oftentimes reading programs are really targeted at our elementary schools, and we wanted to make sure we uh pulled in our middle school and high school students, and they were so excited. We had some two high school students that when they picked out their books, they made sure they got the same books so they could talk to each other over the summer as they read them. That is so adorable. And they're like, these are these are brand new, these are for us, we get to keep them, and they were so excited, and you don't always expect that from your upper level students, but they were so thrilled to have books that they got to pick and keep over the summer.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

That is unexpected. You do kind of think of um high schoolers being too cool for school and excited about, of all things, a book that's not really top of mind, and then even above that, to create their own book club with their friends at school.

SPEAKER_00 10:48

And the fact that these aren't tied to a report or a grade, just that it building an intrinsic love of rating. And that was that was another big piece of the program.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

So and it sounds like the student response is good, and you mentioned the community response is good too. You've got lots of uh corporate partners and um different events going on all in different corners of the county. Now, is it the corporate uh people putting on those events or is it the media coordinators?

SPEAKER_00 11:17

So the media coordinators, the media specialists are creating their own events, but we had one um big community partner ascend um materials and they donated $10,000 to this program. And so that what that allowed us to do was give every school $100 for food for these events because with our um the budget that we're using to promote the summer reading program, we could buy books and I could pay for their time, but I couldn't buy food, I can't buy prizes. So that $10,000 allowed every school to have a hundred dollar food budget, brownies, drinks, those things that really help make it an event. And then the rest of the funds we're using to buy those prizes, those brag tags, the gift cards, the donuts, the pizzas, in addition to what our community sponsors have donated in kind.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

That's incredible. Now, if a parent is listening to this and didn't know about it and wants to get their student involved, what do they do?

SPEAKER_00 12:18

The easiest way is just go to the school district's homepage and on the very front banner, there will be come up a picture for summer reading. And so they just click on it, it's a large picture that pops up, or just a simple Google ECSD summer reading. The web address is pretty long. It is long, but if you just go ECSD summer reading, it will pop up. And we call it level up with summer reading is our theme. And so they could type in level up, but honestly, ECSD summer reading will get them everything that they need. That's so amazing.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

I'm so encouraged that um there's so many programs like this to uh you know bring the kids together to learn together and that they can start to enjoy learning as a habit that will bring them through adulthood and that learning isn't a check mark completed after they leave school or just even when they are on summer break.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

And a big piece that we're finding is that reading is social. You know, how many times do you talk to someone, oh, I just finished this great book, and like, oh my gosh, you'll like this one, or have you heard of this author? And having these events, they get to talk about the books that they've read and maybe pick out some more books they might not have explored otherwise. And it is it, yes, you do it independent, but how you grow as a reader is such a social aspect to it. So having these events on the campuses where you're also engaging the parents really brings that out.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

That is such a good point. That's not anything I would have thought of, but it is um, I mean, it's a peripheral benefit, but it's very important to engagement, social engagement. I think about, you know, my husband and I, he'll he's always reading different things. And and so we always have something to talk about because we, oh, did you read about this? Oh, yeah, I did. Now, now historically, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And he'll circle back to different things that he's read and learned about. And so we um, there's not any gossip really in our house because, you know, because when you're not learning and you're not experiencing new things, people talk about people. But when you're engaging with new thoughts, ideas, stories, even if they're fictional, even if it's a comic book, then you're talking about ideas and um with one another. So how powerful that is to literally change the conversations that are happening.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

It really is. It's something you don't think about, but how so many of us grow as readers and find new things or learn new ideas is based on those conversations about what you've read. And that's a big piece for the parents. Like, how can I help my students become a better reader? A big part of it is setting the example, is that reading and talking to the students about what they're reading, what are you reading, what your friends are reading, because then it becomes part of your vocabulary, becomes part of part of what you do.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

That's so true. Readers are leaders. Yes. Before we wrap up, what do you want people to know about Escambia County public schools?

SPEAKER_00 15:18

Our public schools, we are here for our students. That is our number one goal every day, every child, whatever it takes. And you'll see that from our every person that works in our school district, that that's what they're here to do. And this is just one aspect of what happens on a daily basis on our schools. I'm so proud of that that every day we want our students to succeed, whatever it takes. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. Voices United in Education is a production of Escambia County School District. Special thanks to Pine Forest High School for their recording studio facilities and hospitality.