Reading Recovery’s Ripple Effect

The following guest column by Gulf Coast President|CEO Mark Pritchett appeared in the May 19 edition of SRQ Daily:

Read any good books lately? If you’re someone who looks forward to tackling the venerable “summer reading list,” you probably will soon. It’s that time of year when media outlets and book purveyors start telling us which page-turners everyone will have their noses in this summer.

Many young readers in our community are putting together their own lists. For kids who love to read and are encouraged at home, weekly visits to the school media center often segue seamlessly to regular trips to the local library once summer arrives. But what about our struggling children, who may not have the means to buy books or catch rides to the library?

We now know more than ever about the real threat of “summer slide.” That’s the tendency for students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to lose learning from the past school year over the summer vacation that follows. For dozens of rising first- and second-graders in Sarasota County, however, Kids READ is a powerful (and fun) new tool to help prevent that setback and prepare students for continued gains next year.

Read the rest of Mark’s column in SRQ Daily…