NH DOE Launches Reading, Math Programs To Stop 'Summer Slide'

CONCORD – Granite State parents and guardians now have new tools to help sustain and improve student skills this summer. The New Hampshire Department of Education has partnered with MetaMetrics to provide free reading recommendations and a six-week mathematics program in an effort to stop the “summer slide” – the decline of achievement levels and retention of knowledge and information during the vacation months. MetaMetrics, an educational research group, originally created the programs in 2011, after leaders across the country began discussing strategies to slow “brain drain” while children are out of school.

The initiatives – Find A Book NH and Summer Math Challenge – are completely free to any parent or guardian interested in accessing the programs.

For Find A Book NH, families visit fab.lexile.com/fab/NH/, enter in their child’s grade level, and choose a subject interest. A list of age appropriate book suggestions emerges featuring the title, author, and ISBN number. The list can be printed out and used to borrow from a library or purchase in stores. Amazon and library availability links are also included, when available, in the list. The subject themes range from adventure, art, and food, to nature, sports, and travel (and everything in between).

The Summer Math Challenge is a six-week math skills maintenance program for students that finished grade 1 to grade 8 this past school year. The challenge begins on June 18, and runs through July 27, 2018. This program is opt-in: Parents visit Quantiles.com/summer-math website and subscribe to an email based on the student’s grade. Each weekday, the email will provide fun activities that will help students retain the skills they learned during the previous school year.

The NH DOE has PDFs of certificates online that families can print out to celebrate their child’s summer reading or mathematics accomplishments at the end of the season.

For more information about the programs and to download the certificates, visit the NH DOE website (link no longer active)