Ahhhhh….. the lazy days of summer. After a grueling school year, students finally get to relax. Even parents breathe a sigh of relief to get a break from homework and the battles that sometimes accompany it.
Breaks are hard-earned and necessary for rest and rejuvenation. However, we need to make sure our kids do not lose their skills over the summer.
What is summer slide?
Unfortunately, it is not a fun kind of slide. It’s a scientifically-proven phenomenon where kids lose valuable academic skills over summer break. It can also be called “summer learning loss” or “brain drain.” Over 100 years of research has found that students score lower on standardized tests at the end of the summer than at the beginning unless their summer is enriched with educational opportunities.
Reading loss is one example, and, unfortunately, it is cumulative. Children don’t typically make up for lost skills in the fall, as their classmates move on. By the end of sixth grade, children who didn’t participate in educational enrichment opportunities over the summer were as much as two and a half years behind their peers who were challenged academically over the summer.
Math is another important area where skills can slide downhill. According to a study by John Hopkins University, 2.6 months of math computation skills are lost over summer, regardless of socio-economic status. This is because all students are less likely to practice math outside of the formal classroom.
It can take two months for a student’s brain development to get back on track once school starts. On average, teachers spend the first six weeks of school reviewing old concepts and skills before moving on to make up for summer learning loss.
What Can I Do to Prevent Summer Slide?
So, do parents need to have their kids do schoolwork for eight hours a day over the summer? Fortunately, the answer is no! The great news is that only 2-3 hours per week are needed to prevent any summer learning loss! Just those few hours a week can help keep the brain sharp so your child can hit the ground running when school starts. Also, two months of subject-focused learning is all it takes to improve skills.
There used to be a stigma attached to summer learning programs like summer school. Generally, only students needing remediation would participate. The trend is shifting now, as more students realize that summer is a great time to maintain an educational routine, catch up at a comfortable pace, and even get ahead with an introduction to next-grade concepts.
Summer break is a great opportunity for students to fill in learning gaps, make sense of material learned during the school year, and improve on skills such as reading comprehension and math. It’s the perfect time to get extra help without having to balance the workload and busyness of the regular school year. Students can make impressive academic gains and reduce school year stress.
You can prevent summer slide from happening in your child. I will share some suggestions in my next posts. If you need help keeping your child’s skills fresh or would like me to preview material that will be introduced in the fall, please contact me. The summer is not over yet, and I would be happy to help.
