Read Fort Worth, helping children steer clear of summer slide and reach their potential

It’s time for us to redefine the annual childhood tradition of lazy summer days filled with play and relaxation.

The reason is simple: decades of research from groups such as the National Summer Learning Association and Johns Hopkins University show that, on average, U.S. students lose up to two months of reading skills from the time school is out until school starts again in the fall.

“Summer slide” proves even more devastating for economically disadvantaged students who often lack access to quality out-of-school programs and experience other risk factors that push down early literacy skills.

This is not a call for year-round school. Structured and unstructured playtime in summer months contributes to healthy social and emotional development of our children.

Across our community, program providers and community leaders are aligning efforts to minimize summer slide and to teach families why young children need to read, discuss and write about it over the summer break. There is no choice when only 30 percent of Fort Worth ISD third-graders are reading on grade level.

The reality is that educators work tirelessly for nine months to improve academic outcomes only to see skills and knowledge fade over the summer.

Just think about what could we accomplish in our classrooms if our students improve their literacy skills over the summer and return to school in August ready to learn?

How far would our children grow if summers were filled with opportunities to improve as readers while participating in fun enrichment programs?

Just think how strong families would be if parents could find plentiful learning opportunities for their children year-round and had the right tools to help them succeed.

This is the kind of future that will allow all Fort Worth children to reach their potential, and the kind of city we must create if we are to achieve our shared goal of 100 percent of third-graders reading on grade level by 2025. This is why the Fort Worth ISD has adopted ‘100x25FWTX’ as our District-wide initiative.

What can we do today to make this a reality?

School district, city, philanthropic and community leaders have formed the Fort Worth Literacy Partnership to align efforts centered on early reading, track and share data, and help us measure impact on children and elementary schools.

This week, the Partnership’s Summer Learning Collaborative Action Network kicked off its Summer Scholars program at two Boys & Girls Clubs sites in the Historic Stop Six neighborhood.

About 70 Summer Scholars from Maude T. Logan, Maudrie Walton and Sunrise-McMillan elementary schools are spending four mornings a week through July 24 moving through a Girls Inc. literacy curriculum designed to strengthen reading and comprehension skills. Fridays are reserved for field trips and fun.

The Fort Worth ISD has extended its in-house measurement tools to assess literacy levels of participating children at the onset of the program and at the end to determine whether students advanced.

The Summer Learning team, led by Fort Worth library director Gleniece Robinson and United Way of Tarrant County executive LaToya Stewart, also has marshaled a team of more than two dozen nonprofit organizations to identify best practices in summer learning and to expand promotion of the library’s Worth Reading program to engage more families and children in free literacy activities.

Summer 2017 is a start. Each year, we will work together to identify what works and what can be improved. Each year will be better than the last.

This is about putting Fort Worth children first, making sure that they have access to quality summer learning opportunities and giving them the chance to leap ahead in literacy, not slip behind.

This story was originally published June 16, 2017 at 6:02 PM with the headline "Read Fort Worth, helping children steer clear of summer slide and reach their potential."