3 Strategies for Getting Ahead of Summer Learning Loss
Summer vacation provides students with a much-needed break. Free from rigid schedules, homework and testing, they can relax and enjoy days with fewer responsibilities.
However, as an educator, you are likely well aware that this freedom can slow down students’ academic progress. Students lose knowledge during the extended time away from school — a phenomenon known as the summer slide, summer learning loss or summer setback. This loss can have ramifications on student achievement, especially among historically disadvantaged student groups, prompting many educators to look for ways to mitigate it.
Here’s why getting ahead of summer loss is important and how you can do it.
A century-old challenge with unequal impacts
Numerous studies have confirmed that prolonged periods away from school come at a cost to academic achievement. With COVID-19-related disruptions intensifying learning loss, there’s an even greater focus on understanding the impact of time out of school on students.
Some key research findings include:
- On average, student achievement scores decline by the equivalent of a month spent in school over summer vacation. Experts predict it can take as much as four to six weeks to rebuild lost knowledge.
- First to eighth grade students lose 17% to 28% of their previous year’s English language arts (ELA) gains and 25% to 34% of their math achievement gains over the summer. Additionally, the learning losses compound over time.
- Summer learning loss is not equal across all grade levels or subjects. Students lose more math than reading skills, with greater loss among elementary students than middle or high school students.
- Learning loss disproportionately affects students from historically disadvantaged groups (e.g., low-income) since these students are less likely to have access to summer learning opportunities that support year-round learning than students from non-historically disadvantaged groups.
Tips for minimizing the impact of the summer slide
Research findings may vary and will continue to evolve, but one thing is clear: kids forget some of what they’ve learned from the previous school year. Educators are critical to student success, but they can’t combat the summer slide alone. Partnering with parents and guardians is essential to helping students maintain their academic skills.
Here are three ideas for getting caregivers involved in stemming summer learning loss.
- Provide caregivers with a recommended reading list. Encouraging children to read between four and six books over the summer can mitigate reading and literacy loss. Sending students home with books and/or partnering with local public libraries to promote summer reading activities can ensure all students — even those with limited financial means — have access to books.
- Distribute information about learning opportunities. Share a list of school- and community-based learning opportunities, such as community center activities and formal school programs, with parents and guardians. These can be low-cost or no-cost options for them to keep kids engaged in learning. For example, many public libraries offer free day passes to local museums and zoos, enabling families to expand their education into subject areas like art, history or zoology. To make the most of these opportunities, students must be motivated to learn rather than feeling forced to attend.
- Share family-based learning activities. Learning can feel more fun and casual for students when caregivers and other family members participate. For example, card games like 21 can help students improve addition and probability skills while having an enjoyable time with their families.
Get a head start in the new school year
It’s never too early or too late to think about how to balance the need to give students a break with the need to reduce learning loss. Whether your summer vacation is coming up or has already started, you have options for supporting your students’ academic progress year-round.
For example, you can get parents and guardians involved at the start of vacation with the ideas mentioned above to minimize the summer slide or leverage assessments at the beginning of the new school year to establish a curriculum that reteaches lost skills. Using assessments in the early weeks of the school year can help pinpoint specific skills gaps for individual students or class wide so you can adjust your class schedule to rebuild students’ skills while moving ahead on current grade level content.
For more information about assessments that can give you the accurate and actionable data you need to start the school year strong, visit the Pearson Assessment for Learning Suite.