Program Overview
This work matters!
During the school year, all children have access to a steady flow of resources from their schools. That flow continues during the summer for middle- and higher-income students. But for children who live in high-poverty or rural areas, the flow can slow to a trickle. Students who aren’t learning during the summer can lose ground academically — and once children fall back, the gap in achievement can grow with each year.
High quality summer reading and learning programs can help prevent students from losing ground — and can even give them a boost. Since beginning in 2012, the Initiative has served over 3,000 children with an average of 3 months reading gain during the program.
The Program
The summer literacy program – implemented during the academic recess by rural congregations in collaboration with local schools and educators, congregation members, and community partners – combines four to six weeks of literacy instruction with enrichment activities, family engagement, nutritious meals, and wrap-around services for students who have just finished kindergarten through second grade who read below proficiency for their grade level. Check out our Site Locations.
Promising Practice
The mission of the Promising Practices Clearinghouse is to promote practices that motivate, engage, and provide measurable results in North Carolina’s Public School Units. The Summer Literacy Initiative has been recognized by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (DPI) as a promising practice.
Our Approach
A three-pronged approach has guided the initiative since 2012:
- Engage parents/caregivers in the education process through weekly gatherings.
- Recruit students who need literacy intervention for a reading camp housed within a rural congregation, leveraging its role as a convener and anchor institution in the community.
- Partner with local elementary schools to provide evidence-informed and data-driven instruction by highly qualified teachers.
Guiding Principles & Shared Values
The Summer Literacy Initiative is founded on a set of shared values and principles that drive our practice, decision-making, and goals for the future.
Start with a Thriving and Engaged Faith Community
Enlist Strong Community Investment
Hire Empowered and Effective Teachers
Provide Wrap-around Services
Provide Data-informed and Student-focused Instruction
Involve and Engage the Students’ Families
Shared Values
Trauma-informed Approach
Use learnings about the effects of toxic stress and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) to inform programming and support for students and their families.
Cultural Humility
Hold a stance of cultural humility defined by three pillars:
- Life-long learning about self
- Considering power imbalances in human interaction, and
- Seeking institutional transformation towards equity.
Timeline
26 Sites
The NC Rural Center joined as a key partner as the initiative expanded to additional faith communities across the state.
22 Sites
AIR conducted an implementation and outcomes analysis. The Impact Center at FPG and United Methodist conferences in North Carolina joined as key partners.
21 Sites
AIR conducted an implementation and outcomes analysis addressing enrollment, student and family outcomes, and program implementation.
21 Sites
AIR conducted a pre-post outcomes analysis.
16 Sites
An evaluation was conducted with four goals: to understand student and family outcomes following participation in SLI; to examine variation in program implementation, including cultural humility, trauma-informed practices, instructional strategies, and admissions policies; to identify the essential elements of the program model; and to understand the costs of program implementation.
13 Sites
The Duke Endowment engaged the American Institutes for Research (AIR) as an external evaluator to conduct an implementation and outcomes evaluation. Due to COVID-19, enrollment and class sizes were reduced; five sites offered in-person instruction, and eight sites offered virtual instruction.
12 Sites
Dr. Helen Chen conducted an evaluation that included a pre-post outcome analysis.
3 Sites
Dr. Helen Chen conducted an evaluation that included a pre-post outcome analysis.
Develop Guiding Principles
The Duke Endowment worked with Dr. Helen Chen to develop guiding principles and a set of core program components, followed by a principles-based evaluation.
Conduct External Process Evaluation
The Duke Endowment engaged Dr. Helen Chen to conduct an external process evaluation, which found positive features in the reading camps but identified a lack of a consistent program model.
Same 2 sites
The Duke Endowment began identifying a broader story of impact based on anecdotal and observational evidence of positive student growth.
2 sites
Two sites operated, one in Western North Carolina and one in Eastern North Carolina.
Pilot Site
A pilot program was launched at one site in Western North Carolina.
Concept Paper
A concept paper was written by a Duke Endowment Fellow about the potential for rural churches to serve communities in need of summer literacy interventions.