Program takes aim at ‘summer slide’

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A University of Louisville program aimed at stopping the “summer slide” in reading skills will be offered June 10-July 3 at J. B. Atkinson Academy for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, an elementary school in Louisville’s Portland neighborhood.

Called Summer Boost, the initiative is a partnership between the university’s College of Education and Human Development and Atkinson.

About 110 elementary students are expected to participate in Summer Boost, which is at full capacity and runs 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily and includes transportation, breakfast and lunch, field trips and learning materials. Funded by the Sutherland Foundation, the program will be staffed by Atkinson teachers and UofL students and faculty.

UofL literacy professor Christine Sherretz, the university’s Atkinson liaison and primary organizer of the event, said she has seen firsthand how the program can address summer reading loss.