A new study in the journal Urban Education finds one potential reason for summer slide: Lack of access to print books in high-poverty neighborhoods.
New York University researchers mapped print materials available for sale in six mixed-income and high-poverty neighborhoods in Detroit, Los Angeles, and the District of Columbia. They found a dearth of reading materials in poorer communities: In Los Angeles, for example, high-poverty neighborhoods had less than 100 books for sale per student, versus nearly 1,000 books per student in mixed-income neighborhoods.