Why Students Lose 2+ Months of Reading Skills Every Summer (and How Schools Can Stop It)

Every August, I sit down with teams of teachers who are disheartened. We open up their beginning-of-year reading data, and someone inevitably sighs and says, “But my students were reading so much better in May than they are now. What happened?”

I’ve had that same moment myself, flipping through fluency passages, noticing how once-fluid readers now stumble over words they had mastered just before summer break. Is this a mark against the teacher who poured their heart into building reading skills last year? Of course not. What we’re seeing is something much bigger, something research has warned us about for decades: the summer slide.

The Summer Slide is Real and Predictable

Research shows that students lose, on average, about two months of reading achievement each summer (Cooper et al., 1996). Two months might not sound like much, until you realize those months stack up over time. By middle school, summer slide alone can account for more than two full years of reading loss.

As a literacy specialist, I see this pattern every single August. A student who finally hit their stride with decoding in the spring comes back in August struggling to remember how to blend CVC words. Another who was fluently decoding multisyllabic words comes back with long and short vowel confusion. These skills didn’t disappear overnight, but simply faded without regular practice and reinforcement.

What I've Learned the Hard Way

After years of watching those gains slip away, I finally accepted a hard truth: I can’t assume literacy growth will hold over the summer, even when skills were well-taught and progress was strong. Kids need daily, guided opportunities to read and write, even when school isn’t in session.

But the reality is, not all students have access to books, structured practice, or adults who feel confident helping with reading instruction. And that’s where Teacher in a Backpack can fill the gap.

Teacher in a Backpack: Bringing the Classroom Home

Unlike those old-school summer packets (you know the ones that are crumpled in the bottom of a backpack by day two of summer break), Teacher in a Backpack is a complete, ready-to-use literacy kit that actually gets used.

Inside each backpack, students receive:

• 10 curated books (decodables for K–2, morphology-rich texts for 3–5)
• 40 days of short, skill-based lessons aligned with UFLI and other phonics programs
• Student-friendly supplies
• Scannable QR codes linking to short teacher-led videos

This program meets families right where they are, providing 1:1 support right in their living rooms. Every video models what to do so that families don’t have to guess or worry about “teaching it wrong.”

Why It Works

1. Prevents Summer Slide
   Students who engage in structured summer reading programs maintain or even improve their literacy skills compared to peers without access (Kim & White, 2008). Teacher in a Backpack makes this structure simple and doable for every family.
   
   
2. Supports Families
   One of the most common things parents tell me is, “I’m not a teacher. I don’t know if I’m doing this right!” And honestly, that’s fair! Most parents want to help; they just need someone to show them how.
   
   Teacher in a Backpack lifts that burden off their shoulders. Each kit comes with scannable QR codes that link to short teacher-led videos, so a veteran teacher is there to model the activity and guide the process. Parents don’t have to guess, improvise, or feel frustrated. Instead, they can relax, press play, and learn right alongside their kids.
   
   
3. Designed for Equity
   Every student gets the same high-quality materials, no matter their background. That consistency matters. Allington et al. (2010) found that simply providing children with books to read over the summer significantly reduced summer learning loss.

The Bottom Line

Every fall, teachers face the discouragement of reteaching what students once knew. But it doesn’t have to be this way. By sending students home with Teacher in a Backpack, schools can prevent the summer slide, strengthen the home-to-school connection, and ensure that kids return to class ready for grade-level content.

Because at the end of the day, summer doesn’t have to steal skills. With the right tools, it can build confidence, fluency, and joy in reading that carries into the next school year.

And if you’re like me, you’ll love that feeling in August when you open the data, smile, and say, “They didn’t lose it this time.”

Ready to Keep Literacy Growing?

If you’d like to get a head start on preventing summer learning loss, download our free checklist:

👉 5 Ways to Keep Literacy Growing Over Summer Break. 

It’s a quick, practical guide packed with doable strategies you can start using right now. Preventing summer slide doesn’t have to be complicated. It just takes the right tools, a little consistency, and a whole lot of heart.

Cheering you on as you grow confident, curious readers. 💙