The Alabama Literacy Act of 2019, a comprehensive approach to improving literacy, includes a provision that districts must provide summer reading camps for third grade students struggling with reading. Before the Literacy Act, state supports for summer learning were described as ad hoc. That changed when the state department set out to implement the new law. Central to its approach was building partnerships and increasing alignment among literacy interventions, including summer learning and reading instruction.  

This state spotlight highlights Alabama’s strategy to support districts in running summer reading camps, as part of its effort to build coherence around improving literacy. The agency worked to build coherence internally to connect summer learning to other literacy efforts, an example of building focus and coordination, an element of the Coherence Lab Framework. The agency also proactively built relationships with regional literacy specialists, the Afterschool Alliance, the United Way and other local community partners that could support districts, illustrating another element of the Coherence Lab Framework.