Summer learning loss, also called the summer slide, is the loss of academic skills and knowledge that students experience over the course of summer vacation, in countries with lengthy school breaks such as the United States and Canada. Schools detect it by comparing standardized test results taken before the break against results taken again when students return in the autumn. A 2017 review found that students typically lose about one month of academic progress over the summer, with mathematics skills declining more than reading ability and older students losing more ground than younger ones, and that the loss falls unevenly by family income: students from low-income families tended to lose reading skills over the summer, while middle- and higher-income students actually gained skills over the same break.
Facts
Core ClaimSummer learning loss or summer slide, is the loss of academic skills and knowledge over the course of summer vacation in countries that have lengthy breaks in the school year, such as the United States and Canada. 2 Classification
Education LevelPrimary Education (ISCED 1) 1 FAQs
Does every student lose learning over the summer?
Not universally; research is mixed across geography, grade level and subject.
Not universally, and the evidence is mixed. An early comprehensive review concluded that achievement scores declined over summer vacation by about one month of school-year learning on average, with sharper declines in math than in reading and larger losses at higher grade levels. Later studies disagree: one study of over half a million students in grades 2 to 9 in a southern state found they lost between 25 and 30 percent of their school-year learning over the summer, while an analysis of a nationally representative study of the kindergarten class of 2010 to 2011 found little evidence of overall loss after kindergarten and grade 1. A 2017 Brookings review concludes that summer loss and summer gap growth occur, though not universally across geography, grade level or subject.
Sources
1. Summer Learning Loss (Wikipedia)
Students in higher grades lost more of their learning in general than those in lower gradesView the Source 2. Summer learning loss (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLead paragraph, first sentence
Summer learning loss or summer slide, is the loss of academic skills and knowledge over the course of summer vacation in countries that have lengthy breaks in the school year, such as the United States and Canada.
Reading section, third paragraph
Barbara Heyns' 1978 study of 2,978 sixth- and seventh-graders in the Atlanta city public schools was the first thorough investigation of summer learning.
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