A summer literacy day camp program for disadvantaged first graders, originally funded by the Milken Family Foundation, has received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education's 21st Century Community Learning Centers program.

The grant, written by Foundation Senior Research Associate John Schacter, Ph.D., will be used to run an annual summer literacy day camp over the next three years to help disadvantaged students improve their reading skills.

"Our research has shown that disadvantaged kids lose academic ground from one year to the next because they lack access to stimulating learning opportunities during the summer," said Dr. Schacter. "By providing direct, explicit, and systematic reading instruction in the morning followed by enjoyable camp activities, we blend academics with the fun and freedom summer provides. We are grateful that the U.S. Department of Education has chosen to support this important project."

The program is based on a first-grade literacy day camp operated by Dr. Schacter in the summer of 2000, with funding from the Milken Family Foundation. Dr. Schacter’s study demonstrated that children who attended the summer literacy camp achieved large gains in reading scores, while those who did not attend suffered significant declines.

Dr. Schacter’s report, "Reducing Social Inequality in Elementary School Reading Achievement: Establishing Summer Literacy Day Camps for Disadvantaged Children" is available for download on the Foundation Web site at www.mff.org/publications/publications.taf?page=297.

The Milken Family Foundation’s partners on this grant include three schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, Koreh LA (an outreach volunteer reading program supported by the Jewish Federation), and the Westchester Recreational Center.

Dr. Schacter will serve as the project director and principal investigator on the project, while LAUSD will assume the administrative and fiscal lead.