Your students just returned from winter break, and the gap between your strongest and weakest readers feels wider than it did in December. Some kids are rusty, unfocused, like they forgot everything over the break. You know exactly which students had books at home and which didn't.
You're already thinking ahead. Spring testing. Summer. Losing more students to the slide, just like last year.
What will you change this year?
You need the right strategies at the right time. Now is that time.
The Truth About What We're Up Against
In 2022, 67% of fourth graders scored below proficient. The average reading score in 2022 was exactly the same as it was in 1992. Thirty years later, the needle hasn't moved.
The pandemic made things worse. High achievers lost a little. Low achievers lost a lot. Students in the lowest percentiles experienced the steepest decline.
Fourth grade is when students shift from learning to read to reading to learn. Students who aren't reading proficiently by the end of third or fourth grade are four times more likely to drop out of school.
The Parent Gap
Research shows that 92% of parents think their children read at grade level.
Without accurate information, parents become barriers instead of partners. They don't know their child needs help, so they don't provide it at home.
Five Strategies That Actually Work
These five research-backed strategies are proven effective by John Hattie's research on what actually moves the needle on reading achievement.
1. Comprehension: The Heart of Reading
Reading researchers Gough and Tunmer identified the two essential components of reading: Word Recognition multiplied by Language Comprehension equals Reading Comprehension.
Think about the word "canine." A student might be able to decode the letters and say the word correctly. But if their brain doesn't recognize that "canine" means "dog," comprehension breaks down.
How to use it: Start with guided questions. Use strategies like text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections. Teach students to ask questions before, during, and after reading.
Kids Read Now provides Discovery Sheets for hundreds of books. Each sheet includes four questions or activities matched to the book's reading level. Browse the book library to see examples and use them with your students.
2. Fluency: The Bridge
Fluency connects decoding to understanding through speed, accuracy, and expression.
Without fluency, students spend all their mental energy on sounding out words. It's the bridge between decoding and understanding.
How to use it: Have students read the same passage multiple times. Let them read aloud with a buddy. For beginning readers, share the reading. You read a page, they read a page. This builds confidence and models fluency.
The goal is reading that sounds natural, like talking.
3. Independent Practice: Reading Beyond the Classroom
The 45 to 60 minutes of daily reading instruction in your classroom isn't enough.
Students need practice outside school time to develop the reading habit. Every minute counts.
Low-income students lose an average of two months of reading skills every summer. If we can predict it, we can prevent it.
Students who participate in structured summer reading programs like Kids Read Now gain 2.5 months of learning.
Research from one New York elementary school found that 97% of third through fifth grade students enrolled in our program maintained or grew their reading skills over summer break when using the program. Seventy-one percent increased their reading levels.
How to use it: Send books home, not just worksheets. Establish clear expectations for home reading. Track what students are reading outside school.
Kids Read Now delivers books directly to students' homes every 8 to 10 days throughout the summer. Students report each book they finish, and the next one arrives.
4. Caregiver Involvement: Building the Bridge
Parents are their child's first teachers.
But many parents don't know how to help. They want to support their child's reading, but they're not sure what to do. Remember that 92% who think their kids are fine? They need you to show them the reality and give them tools.
Schools that build responsive partnerships with families facing systemic, linguistic, or cultural barriers see stronger results.
How to use it: Share the Simple View of Reading with families. Help them understand that their child's oral vocabulary can be bigger than their reading vocabulary.
Encourage families to read together for 15 minutes every day. Give them discussion prompts or questions to ask about books.
Host Family Reading Events. Send home reading guides in families' home languages. The Kids Read Now app provides reading guides and comprehension questions in 100+ languages so every family can participate.
5. Motivation and Engagement: The Spark
Without motivation, even the best teaching strategies fall flat.
Students are twice as likely to read books they choose themselves. When given choice, students select books that match their interests, and completion rates soar.
How to use it: Let students choose from a curated list of high-quality books. Connect reading to their interests, whether that's sports, animals, funny stories, or graphic novels.
Use student-voted favorites as a guide. For kindergarteners, books like "Tooth Fairy's Night" and "Big Shark, Little Shark" are hits. First graders love "Pete the Cat" and "Madeline Finn and the Library Dog." Second graders choose "Junie B. Jones" and "Magic Tree House" again and again.
Celebrate reading progress. Recognize when students finish books.
How These Strategies Work Together
A student chooses a book they're excited about. That's motivation. The book arrives at home, where they practice reading independently. That's independent practice and fluency building. Their parent asks questions from a Discovery Sheet. That's caregiver involvement and comprehension instruction.
The Program That Ties It All Together
Kids Read Now brings all five strategies together.
The program has ESSA Tier 2 evidence backing it. Two independent studies prove it works. The research states that Kids Read Now can completely negate summer reading losses for low-income students when fully implemented.
How the program works:
- Comprehension: Every book includes a Discovery Sheet with four guided questions or activities matched to the book's reading level.
- Fluency: Books are matched to each student's reading level.
- Independent Practice: Students receive a new book at home every 8 to 10 days. They read independently and report when they finish.
- Caregiver Involvement: Parents receive reading guides and can access discussion questions through an app available in 100+ languages. Families get weekly engagement prompts via text, email, or app notifications.
- Motivation: Students choose their own books from a curated list of over 400 titles.
Ann M. Collins, principal at Hugh Gregg Elementary School in New York: "We attribute the fact that 97% of our returning third through fifth grade readers maintained or grew their skills over the summer break to their participation in the Kids Read Now program."
Eighty-nine percent of parents and 94% of educators recommend the program.
Make 2026 Different
You already know which students need help. You don't need more data. You need a plan that actually works.
Kids Read Now has the research-backed program that stops the slide. Books delivered to homes. Reading guides in every family's language. Student choice that builds real motivation.
Schedule a demo now and make 2026 the year you help every student, not just the ones with books at home.
