Kern County takes action against summer learning loss
At the beginning of the summer season, 23ABC brought you stories about how to keep kids both active mentally and physically. With students heading back to school in the next couple weeks, 23ABC’s Ruby Rivera spoke with experts about Kern County literacy rates now and how you can still prepare your child for the next school year.
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00:00 You may remember at the onset of summer we brought you stories about how to keep kids active both mentally and physically.
00:06 Now with students heading back to school in the next couple weeks, 23 ABC's Ruby Rivera looked into the local student literacy rates
00:13 and what the experts say about getting your child ready for the next school year.
00:17 A library has thousands of books to choose from. Books that have the potential to not only expand your imagination, but your literacy skills as well.
00:25 Here at the Beal Memorial Library, a summer reading challenge encourages kids to read.
00:30 Ian Anderson with the Current Literacy Council says it's programs like this that have the potential to eliminate the risks of summer learning loss in the future.
00:37 There are negative things attached to it, but if we bring those interventions now, provide reading material at a young age,
00:45 teaching families how to enjoy the love of having a book in their home and encouraging that, kids can do so much.
00:54 According to the results of the 2021-2022 California assessment, student performance and progress showed almost 40% of students did not meet the English language arts standards
01:04 and roughly 53% did not meet the mathematic requirements.
01:07 Ian Anderson says part of the reason for these numbers is how the pandemic impacted the education system.
01:12 Not being able to have access to the professionals, being in the classroom, I think that really impacted the students.
01:18 But then there's also the fact that if it's not in front of you, you're probably not going to be using it.
01:24 And so that little tiny gap, even in the summer, can cause kids to backslide.
01:29 Anderson says ending the cycle of summer learning loss starts in communities, something that Senior Vice President at United Through Reading, Josie Beetz, agrees with.
01:37 We know that reading and literacy are the foundation of so much learning,
01:42 that it's important that kids continue to read over the summer to keep that information that they've learned in school.
01:49 It's just like exercise and you've got to work that muscle and you've got to keep reading.
01:53 She says students who forget materials in one summer are more likely to forget materials in future school years, which is why the time to act is now.
02:00 By simply reading six books in one summer, Beetz says students are less prone to backsliding in the school year.
02:06 But Beetz says kids don't necessarily have to start reading novels or chapter books to stay on track.
02:11 She says it's all about listening to your child.
02:14 I have an 11-year-old. He's not a big reader. We read a lot of graphic novels in this house.
02:20 And they are really great ways of learning to read in little bits and to build confidence.
02:27 Anderson says there's only so much teachers can do to engage your child and says the key to ending summer learning loss in your child is by taking initiative.
02:35 Being an active participant in your kid's education allows you to really understand the needs of your child and also how you can advocate for them with the school system.
02:46 So it's very much a partnership between the parent and the schools.
02:49 Anderson says as important as it is to keep kids academically engaged during the summer, it's also important to lead by example.
02:56 This could be by bringing more books into the home, showing an interest in reading, or signing up your kids for camps based on their interest.
03:03 In downtown Bakersfield, Rubira Vera, 23 ABC News, connecting you.
03:07 Helping to improve student literacy in Kern County has been an ongoing fight by local educators for a while now.
03:15 We took an in-depth look at the latest data from the National Center for Education and have an update on Kern County's literacy rates.
03:22 Since 2014, test scores show that only 33 percent of Kern County students met or exceeded the state standard.
03:30 This number increases slightly each year, peaking at 43 percent during the 2018-19 school year.
03:36 However, due to the pandemic, testing was suspended in 2020, so there's no data for that year.
03:42 In 2021, Kern students had dropped back down to 39 percent in meeting testing standards.
03:48 And over the past couple of years, English learners in Kern County schools have tested the lowest.