If it were up to you, how would you measure success of the Summer Reading Program?
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It would be interesting to compare ONE Card holders (and their real lib. cards) with Summer Reading figures. So many schools have required summer reading. I'm sure that not every student performs his or her summer reading, but I'm equally sure that many children are performing this perfunctory reading over the summer and not tracking it.
I've wondered if the lib.'s partnership with ONE Card could influence required summer reading to be logged as an exchange for the access that we provide thru the program.
Since the "summer slide" is the purpose of Summer Reading the non-targeted participants wouldn't be a part of my goal; they're just extras.
The first part of my comment really applies more to the "encouraging participation" thread, but since schools were brought up here... The ReadOKC Initiative (including the Reading Room at Penn Square Mall, etc) is great, and it is fantastic that it is also encouraging OKC Public School kids to read 20 minutes a day. But it would be better if it tied directly to Beanstack, rather than using its own reading log and even its own theme. I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that a barrier to participation in our summer reading program is that many parents are experiencing "log fatigue" by having to log reading time on several separate logs for different programs. (I don't have any data to support this, though.)
Back to the subject of measuring success, though -- Gatlin mentioned the Summer Slide. It would be great if we could provide data to schools about which students participated in our Summer Reading Program and they were able to provide some kind of data back to us about whether those students maintained, or even advanced, their reading level over the summer.
I totally agree! I think it would be fantastic to work more collaboratively with our school districts and create a "one-stop-shop" experience for our community members in participating with reading during the summer months. I also think the data that Elizabeth mentioned would be really powerful to share with our community and with legislators. Proof of why libraries remain relevant :)
I attended a session at OLA in which the presenters argued that the term "summer reading" should be replaced by "summer learning," and that summer initiatives should not only be tied to reading activities. We have already adopted this mindset by allowing members to earn badges and log activities other than reading in Beanstack, but I believe this could be expanded by implementing larger scale, themed programs, developed around certain learning goals. This may broaden the appeal of Summer Reading for members who don't primarily use the library for access to reading materials. Maybe shifting the question from "how can we get people to read?" to "how can we get people to learn?" would increase participation. I know some library systems host various themed camps, multi-week sessions on certain topics, summer-long community partnerships. The summer becomes an opportunity for in-depth engagement that would otherwise be difficult to implement during the school year. Reading is still a part of it, but it is embedded within a larger learning paradigm. Success could then be measured by the diversity of learning experiences offered, the breadth of members who attend, and participation numbers.
Love this thread adding the school connection. The reality is the initiative of continuous learning/reading ultimately has an impact on our communities as a whole. Research provides the information needed to make informed decisions. It would not only benefit to collaborate with schools but entire communities.
1. Teachers typically spend between four to six weeks re-teaching material students have forgotten over the summer.
2. It's estimated that the "summer slide" accounts for as much as 85% of the reading achievement gap between lower-income students, and their middle- and upper-income peers.
3. Regardless of ethnicity, socioeconomic level, or previous achievement, children who read four or more books over the summer fare better on reading-comprehension tests in the fall than their peers who read one or no books over the summer.
**What could happen if we were all on the same page, utilizing the same tools to gauge progress?
I love using the glass.
We used one of our taller displays and built a book stack in the middle with signage about building a Minutes Mountain and encouraging folks to log their minutes and to help us reach our goal.
I think having those visual keys really helps start the conversation with our members.
I love the comments above about including educators in the assessment of our SR program. This is a great idea and a wonderful way to continue to build our partnerships with area schools. SFPL features a recommended summer reading list, created in collaboration between SFPL and SF Unified School District librarians, as a part of their Summer Stride program. We could do something similar over the summer as well and track the usage of the recommended items as one small way to help measure success amongst students. I'd also love to see us include parents (all of our members, really) in the assessment of our SR program...perhaps through the development of a simple experience survey that would provide us with qualitative data to accompany our quantitative data.
I also think that Katherine and Angie's comments about community collaboration and continuing to broaden/redefine the focus of our SR program are spot on. I'd love to see us partner with places like OK Parks & Rec, Embark, local museums and cultural institutions, OK Tourism, etc. when building out our future SR programs. What better way to grow smarter communities, one person at a time, than by connecting our community members to all of the amazing resources available to them at our locations and beyond.
Love that, Jessica. Inclusive is key. And though everybody may not jump onboard, much can be accomplished through all those who do. It only takes a spark.......
Positive data could bolster others from straddling the fence to joining us in these efforts. I used to coin this in education as the "power of positive peer pressure". It's truly incredible what positivity can do.
Kudos on the all the partnerships you mentioned. FYI - "Come Read with Me" already partners with OKC Parks & Recs during the summer. Baby steps.......