Reading Loss/Gain during the Summer Vacation: A Study of 12 PRP Intervention Schools

The project aims to improve children's reading skills in grades 1 and 2 by delivering an evidence-based and evidence-generating approach to teaching reading. This approach includes in-service training for teachers, teacher inquiry groups, coaching, and face-to-face training to help teachers effectively teach the five component skills of reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension, with writing and print concepts integrated. The program also develops rich, age-appropriate children's literature and supplemental learning materials to engage children in the learning process. The PRP targets 1.3 million grade 1 and 2 students in the target area of the country, with the expectation that a proportion of children who complete two years of PRP interventions will be able to read at least 60 correct words per minute in the oral reading fluency task. However, research suggests that summer vacation can lead to a decline in reading skills, particularly for economically disadvantaged children who may not have access to extra print materials during the break. A study conducted to identify the extent to which PRP students lose reading skills during the summer vacation found that 129 students from 12 PRP intervention schools in AJK, Balochistan, KP, ICT, and Sindh were re-tested in September after the summer vacation. The study used data from the PRP midline evaluation conducted in April-May 2016, which showed that students had less than a week of instruction before the schools closed for summer break. The study found that 42 students were unable to be located after the summer vacation, with 14 girls and 28 boys missing. The study aimed to gain insights into the changes in reading skills during the summer vacation and to inform PRP about the need to devise pilot interventions, such as summer reading camps, during the implementation of Cohort 3. The study's methodology involved randomly selecting 12 schools from the 186 schools where students were tested in April-May 2016, and testing all children who had participated in the PRP midline data collection. The study found that the selected schools were located in a summer zone where schools close in May/June for vacation. The study's results will inform PRP about the need to devise pilot interventions to mitigate the decline in reading skills during the summer vacation. The study's findings suggest that summer vacation can lead to a decline in reading skills, particularly for economically disadvantaged children who may not have access to extra print materials during the break. The study's results will also inform the development of pilot interventions, such as summer reading camps, to support PRP students during the summer vacation. The study's methodology involved using data from the PRP midline evaluation conducted in April-May 2016, which showed that students had less than a week of instruction before the schools closed for summer break. The study found that 129 students from 12 PRP intervention schools were re-tested in September after the summer vacation, with 42 students missing. The study's results will inform PRP about the need to devise pilot interventions to support PRP students during the summer vacation. The study's findings suggest that summer vacation can lead to a decline in reading skills, particularly for economically disadvantaged children who may not have access to extra print materials during the break. The study's results will inform the development of pilot interventions, such as summer reading camps, to support PRP students during the summer vacation. The study's methodology involved using data from the PRP midline evaluation conducted in April-May 2016, which showed that students had less than a week of instruction before the schools closed for summer break.