Throughout history a symbol of abundance and growth, summertime in the 21st century tends to be associated with excitement, adventure, celebration, and relaxation. Warmer weather, outdoor activities, pursuing fun interests, making new memories—these things tend to be top of mind; but education—perhaps not so much. For students who don’t maintain their studies over the summer months, up to a third of the knowledge gained in the previous school year may be lost. For educators and district leaders, summer learning loss (the “summer slide”) has remained a legitimate concern and the target of considerable study and discussion for decades.
A Closer Look at Summer Learning Loss
Huge quantities of research over at least the past 120 years have addressed summer learning loss, its deleterious effects, and the proven results of strong summer learning programs and other educational efforts in the summertime. These losses affect students as early as K–1, with the most serious effect on Grades K–3 because these young students are developing essential foundational skills that predicate their future habits, achievements, confidence, communication skills, and eventual life prospects.
While losses do occur almost across the board for all students in all subjects, many studies show that losses tend to be slightly worse in math (perhaps practiced less often during the summer than reading) and among students from low-income families (who may have less access to tutors, camps, or summer learning programs).
Major Studies on Summer Learning
The industry’s current understanding of summer learning loss comes mostly from large bodies of data, such as the NWEA’s interim assessment, MAP® Growth™ and the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010–11 (ECLS-K:2011). The NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Association) is an educational non-profit organization; MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) tests measure K–8 student growth throughout the year (including the summer) across a variety of subjects. The ECLS-K:2011 study surveyed a large set of K–1 students who started kindergarten in 2010–11, covering only the summers after kindergarten and first grade.
A recent study from Brown University, called School’s Out: The Role of Summers in Understanding Achievement Disparities, examined summer learning loss in Grades 1–8. This study’s results demonstrated findings similar to those mentioned above: average students lose 17–34% of the previous school year’s learning gains over the summer, and students who experience learning loss one summer are more likely to experience loss in subsequent summers.
5 Reasons to Address Summer Learning Loss:
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Backsliding in the summer wastes knowledge students worked to gain during the previous school year.
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The slide requires teachers to spend more time in the fall re-teaching content from last year.
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Learning gaps tend to increase with time and summer is a great opportunity to work on closing them.
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Doing so sets students up for success as the new school year begins.
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Preventing the summer slide can contribute directly to better futures for students, academically, professionally, and personally.
How Can Educators Prevent the Summer Slide?
Districts and policymakers have historically depended on summer school programs to fight summer learning loss and help close learning gaps. School-based summer educational programs can vary widely in their effectiveness; countless meta-analyses have repeatedly demonstrated that such programs produce the best outcomes when they rely on science-based instruction, when students attend regularly, and when activities and tasks have an academic focus. Home-based summer school programs produce outcomes similar to more expensive classroom-based programs when they also rely on research-based curriculum for summer learning.
Striving Students Benefit from Summer Learning Programs
Summer learning programs can be especially helpful for all kinds of striving students or anyone who learns differently, including students with dyslexia and students with learning disabilities. Look for research-based multisensory learning programs and implement summer reading curriculums built on the Orton-Gillingham approach to instruction, ideal for students with dyslexia, striving students, and students at every level.
Summer Learning Improves Outcomes
Students who participate tend to mitigate summer learning loss and often display gains. Most kids who take part in summer learning programs develop their comprehension and memory skills. Programs that also include multisensory learning approaches work to address the learning challenges and help children’s brains function more efficiently. Summer learning programs can also improve a wide range of skills and increase the desire to learn. A research-based strategy, summer learning has been shown to help prepare for the next school year, prevent summer learning loss, and accelerate learning for students at all levels.
6 Benefits of Summer Learning Programs:
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Build and strengthen skills.
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Increase desire to learn.
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Bolster self-esteem.
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Prevent summer learning loss.
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Improve learning comprehension.
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Boost memory skills.
Change Outcomes and Change Lives
The slide can mean the loss of weeks or months of learning from the previous year, but it doesn’t have to. Educators and district leaders have the power to prevent the summer slide by taking simple steps to promote skill sharpening throughout the summer, enabling a strong start to the next school year and ensuring that students transitioning to a higher grade have the support they need to feel prepared when they enter a new grade.
Help prevent the summer slide, close learning gaps, improve outcomes, and engage students throughout the summer months by building a strong program with solid instructors and by choosing the right summer learning curriculum.
