The results of Dwyane Wade's “Live to Dream” Summer Reading Program have been released by Marquette University’s College of Education.
The program aims to decrease the “summer slide,” which refers to the tendency for students to lose some of the progress they made during the previous school year.
The results show that Marquette’s summer program has made significant progress in curbing the summer slide.
Over the past three summers, 131 second- and third-grade students have participated in the program. Each student either maintained or increased his or her reading level: 67 students increased and 64 students maintained their reading level.
Marquette University alum and Cleveland Cavaliers star Dwyane Wade donated $195,000 to the university’s Ralph C. Hartman Literacy and Learning Center in December 2014 to help improve the region’s literacy gap among inner-city children.
The summer reading program will be held in Marquette’s College of Education through at least 2020. It provides free transportation for children to and from the Hartman Center on campus.
When he made the donation, Wade said, “My hope is that the children will envision themselves as future Marquette students where they can one day transform their lives through higher education.”
