A Quasi-Experimental Study of the Achievement Impacts of a Replicable Summer Reading Program

Abstract

The “summer slide,” the well-documented tendency for students to lose academic skills during the extended summer break, remains a persistent challenge for educational equity and achievement. Although traditional summer school programs can mitigate these losses, an emerging body of research suggests that summer book distribution initiatives, which provide students with free, high-quality books to read at home, represent a cost-effective and scalable alternative. This study presents results from a quasi-experimental evaluation of Kids Read Now (KRN), an at-home reading program designed to sustain elementary students’ literacy engagement over the summer months. The program’s central feature is the delivery of nine free books directly to students, supported by school-based components that foster home–school connections and promote shared reading between parents and children. Across two districts, five schools, four grade levels (1–4), and 110 KRN and 156 comparison students, we used propensity score matching and doubly robust regression analyses, indicating that KRN participants outperformed their non-participating peers, with an average effect size of nearly d = 0.15. Further, two-stage least squares regression analyses revealed that students who benefited from all nine books achieved an effect size of d = 0.21. These impact estimates correspond to approximately two months of additional learning for the average participant and more than three months for full participants. Collectively, the results contribute to a growing evidence base indicating that book distribution programs are an effective and sustainable means of mitigating summer learning loss and promoting continued growth in reading achievement.