—parent and volunteer, Kendall Elementary, Whatcom County
—first grade teacher, Rising Star Elementary, Seattle
—parent of a kindergartner, Liberty Elementary, Marysville
—teacher, Concord International Elementary, Seattle
—parent of a kindergartner, Arlington Elementary, Tacoma
Summer reading loss accounts for 80 percent of the “achievement” gap between low-income students and their better-off peers. By the time a low-income student reaches middle school, that annual backslide in reading can leave them more than two years behind their better-resourced peers.
Book Up Summer addresses this gap before it happens. Based on a highly regarded study, Book Up Summer builds home libraries and keeps kids’ reading skills up over summer break: K–2 students at majority low-income elementaries choose 12 new books from a book fair at school, at no cost to them or their families, to keep and read during the summer (and beyond).
And it works: in 2022, Seattle Book Up Summer students’ reading skills improved by an average of 2.52 points over the summer for rising first graders, 1.68 points for rising second graders, and 2.47 for rising third graders.
books distributed
schools serviced
children helped
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