A unique program to improve early childhood literacy is beginning its third year in Springfield Massachusetts.
The Talk Read Succeed initiative , a collaboration between two Springfield Housing Authority developments and two elementary schools kicked off its summer program on Thursday with a family event. Studies have found that sixty percent of the education achievement gap results from summer learning loss. Testing of children who participated in the Springfield program found 80 percent improved reading performance over the summer, according to Maura Geary, a literacy specialist with the Hampden Regional Employment Board.
Geary says outreach to get parents involved in their children’s education is key to the program’s success.
