Bring home a love of reading with summer book backpacks

At Reading Partners, our commitment to students extends beyond weekly sessions with a volunteer tutor. We want to guarantee children have the opportunity to improve their reading skills at home and during the summer months too.

Children growing up in homes without books are on average three years behind their peers in homes with books, even when considering key factors such as income and parents’ education (M.D.R. Evans et al, “Family scholarly culture and educational success: Books and schooling in 27 nations”).

Through Reading Partners’ take reading home and summer reading backpack programs, our students have the opportunity to grow their home libraries and literacy skills year-round. We are proud to share that 50 percent of our students saw an increase in their reading percentile rank at school from fall 2016 to fall 2017. We contribute this not only to the weekly dedication of our volunteers, but also the community effort to provide students with the books and resources needed to practice their reading skills outside the classroom.

Last year’s summer reading backpack program helped ensure that each of our students were able to read all summer long, maintaining the literacy gains they worked so diligently to achieve with their tutors.

Access to age-appropriate, engaging books is vital to growing the next generation of reading lovers. Research shows that 61 percent of low-income families have no books in their home for children. (Scholastic Research Compendium, “Access to Books”).

To help close this reading gap, we ensure students have free reading materials to last throughout the school year and summer months. We appreciate your generous support that continues to grow our students’ love of reading.