Never mind the digital divide...

I came across this important information on the Reading Rockets blog by Joann Meier:
"In their book Summer Reading, Shin and Krashen summarize their research on summer access with these points:

• The crucial activity that occurs during the summer, the activity that causes the difference in growth in literacy, is recreational reading. Children from higher-income families read more over the summer.
  
• The reason middle-class children read more over the summer is that they have more access to books. They have more access to books at home, live closer to bookstores, and live closer to public libraries. Also, public libraries available to the children from high-income families are better. They have more books, more staff, and are open longer hours.
  
• Other research confirms that children read more when they have more access to books.
  

So, here's the bottom line: Children of poverty need more access to reading material, especially during the summer."

Summer vacation is here in just a few weeks. What can we do? Read Joanne's blog next week to learn what her elementary school is doing.

Please add your suggestions to the comments section.