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

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.