Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
School directors brush up on summer reading
Summer reading got a close look from School Board members at their March 21 meeting.
The district held a town hall and an online survey before the final version of the summer reading program was prepared to share the concept with the school community. Historically, the high school honors and advanced placement classes have required summer reading for those students along with some form of essay or exercise upon return to school in the fall.
Assistant Superintendent Margaret Billings-Jones explained that research shows a month of instruction is lost over the summer break from school. The summer reading program is an effort to fight that loss and help the district’s high percentage of students who are performing below grade level in reading.
The program, put into practice last year, sets a summer reading requirement for all students from incoming kindergarteners to seniors, in all class levels. Most students are required to read two books from a list provided for their grade. Along with the reading, students fill in a “story map”, short response form, essay or other age appropriate work to show their understanding of the books.
For youngest readers, books are read to them by an adult, and their responses may be in drawings rather than words.
For High School Honors and AP students, the required reading is three books. Students are encouraged, but not required, to take notes in preparation for an essay they write for the beginning of the school year.
The school board action
at this time was centered around a vote to approve the reading list for the program. The district will work with the Oxford Public Library to help make the books available over the summer, plus many editions
will be available to students as e-books.
Board member Lorraine Bell did not object to the book list, but questioned the essay requirement for the AP classes, wondering if the third book and the rigor of the writing assignment is a disincentive to students. “I would hope we don’t want to discourage students,” she said.