Summer Learning Loss

A large portion of the knowledge gained during the last school year is lost over the long idle months and must be retaught for weeks, which wastes a lot of time that could be spent learning new material. This puts students behind in that year’s curriculum, and over many summers, can add up to students being months or years behind where they would be if no learning was lost. There is a solution to this

Some advantages of year-round schooling include improved achievement, improved attendance by both teachers and students, reduced discipline problems, lower teacher stress, increased motivation due to frequent breaks, and increased opportunities for enrichment (Palmer and Bemis). During the two week breaks in between school sessions, students have the opportunity to take classes on karate, ballet, photography, cooking, and swimming. This intersession provides time for hands-on, big project classes that get kids involved in topics that interest them. Intersession can also be used as an intervention for students who are falling behind. “Karl Alexander, sociology professor at Johns Hopkins University, studied 800 students for more than 20 years in Baltimore’s elementary schools. He found that by ninth grade, low-income students had fallen 3 ½ grade levels behind their middle-class peers. And most of that gap was attributable to learning lost over the long traditional summer” (Schulte, 2009). The biggest driving force and proponent of year-round schooling is the effect of the “summer slide.” Students lose two months of achievement in math skills and students from low-income families lose more than two months in reading achievement according to the national Summer Learning

“The U.S. research challenges one of the main arguments for abandoning conventional schedules: year- round schooling improves achievement because it prevents students from falling behind during the summer and because it does not waste precious time reviewing past years’ lessons”

Year-round schooling is characterized by its 45-90 day periods of instruction (varying with different multitrack systems) separated by 15-30 day breaks (varying with different multitrack systems) (California Department of Education). There is no current scientific evidence to show that year-round education lessens the amount of material forgotten during the summer (McMillen 68); in fact, this memory loss is maximized as it occurs more frequently as it accompanies the shorter, habitual breaks. Constant breaks can also multiply some of summer’s negative effects. One common issue associated with summer is students’ loss of focus as summer approaches and trouble becoming accustomed to the beginning of the following school year (Worsnop 439). This would be a, though minimized, a recurring difficulty with constant breaks. Furthermore, teachers

Year round school eliminates regression of learning due to extended time off. Having a year round school can reduce what people known as summer learning loss ("The Pros"). Almost every child will experience a decrease in their math over the time of summer break each summer break ("SUMMER LEARNING"). “On an average students lose two months of reading skills over summer” ("SUMMER LEARNING"). After

Do students get bored towards the end of summer? Do students forget what they learned from the school year before? Sarah attends a high school in Indiana, while Hannah goes to a high school in Illinois. Due to the year round schooling (YRS) in Indiana, Sarah has a shortened summer. Sarah receives two-three weeks off of school for winter break, fall break, and spring break. Once Sarah gets back from her breaks, her teacher has one day of review and moves on. Hannah does not have to go to school during the summer but only receives a week or two off here and there. When Hannah returns to start school after summer ends, her teacher takes two weeks to review what they learned the year before. The breaks for Sarah last a lot longer than they do for Hannah. The extensive summer break disconnected Hannah from school and she forgot everything. Year round schooling would benefit students because it would reduce negativity toward school and stress.

Imagine going to school on the first couple of weeks back from summer break. After the introductory period ends and the learning phase starts up again, children sit there staring blankly at the board. They can forget a lot of things after two and a half months of being a couch-potato. In year-round school, kids have shorter breaks, which means teachers spend less time reviewing work from last year and more time moving forward academically. Most teachers and educators “keep the learning process ongoing with minimal disruption,” (scholastic.com 1). Although it isn't proven that year-round school children do better academically, they do have a

Year-round school maintains that students forget knowledge and skills they learned during the previous school year. There are studies that support this theory. Students show loss of knowledge in math and language arts knowledge over the long summer break. Students must re-acclimate themselves to the school schedule, their new teachers and their classmates, as well as to school rules and expectations, homework, and non-academic demands such as participation in sports. From teachers experience the first month of each new school year is spent figuring out what the student has remembered from the previous year and reviewing what they have forgotten over the summer

It was also noted that while one teacher was expecting to have to reread several chapters of the class book, she was pleasantly surprised to only have to go back a few paragraphs. The most popular opposition to this theory is to assign summer homework, which some schools have already implemented into their curriculum, for the students to complete on their own time over break. However, even with school assigning summer work as a way to combat the summer slide, there is no way to enforce when, or how much effort, students put into their summer work, and nothing assigned over break can compare to what students learn in a school supervised environment with no distractions. Harris Cooper, director of the education program at Duke, confirms that when tested in the spring and fall, “kids generally slide in math and reading during the traditional summer break” (O’Sullivan), proving that two of the most real-world applicable subjects need to be continuously practiced upon to reach

Budget cuts not only affect children’s access to Pre- Kindergarten programs but they also affect summer school programs as well. According to Roberta Hoyle, Summerfield Elementary’s ESL Teacher, “The education cuts are making it so that some schools have to drop summer school. This hurts the students in the early ages whose parents are unable to take the children to the schools. Many students in low income areas need additional education but are unable to get the extra help because their local summer schools are closing.” Budget cuts are making it so that states are cutting summer school because they are unable to fund them. Summer school provides an opportunity for students who struggle during the year to catch up to the education level of

The idea of year round school is becoming an increasingly popular idea as this calendar is beneficial to both students and teachers. Under this new calendar, students attend school twelve months rather than nine months. Instead of having a long summer break, which can cause learning loss, students have frequent short breaks throughout the year. The effect of constantly learning throughout the year causes students to improve in test taking. When there is a long summer break, not all students have the same opportunities, creating a gap in achievements. Furthermore, teachers have more time to prepare lessons and teach them. Ultimately, students are more likely to excel in school with this new calendar.

As a way to minimize summer learning loss, the reorganization of the traditional school calendar in the year-round education system replaces long summer vacations with several smaller breaks throughout the year (Raisch, 2008). In year-round education policies, the schools are set on a school plan and track system. This maximizes the use of school facilities by dividing the school attendance days into rotating instruction and vacation segments. According to Chittom and Klassen (2014), “The plan determines the number of consecutive days students attend school and also dictates the break schedule.” In the year-round school calendar, the 45-15 plan, the 60-20 plan, and the 90-30 plan are the most common. For example, students on a 45-15 plan would

Research shows that summer learning loss is a significant issue in the American education system. The National Summer Learning Association cites studies dating back as far as 1906, which find that students score lower on standardized tests taken at the end of the summer than at the beginning. A more recent study (Cooper, 1996) found that schoolchildren lost an average of two months of computational mathematical skills. The Cooper study also found that lower-income students risk equal or greater losses in reading and language skills, leading to their being a full three grade-equivalent levels behind their wealthier peers by grade five.

A lot of people have misunderstood the “year-round” schooling. The year-round school is not an alternative curriculum for learning, but it can also be called continuous learning, all-seasons learning, or four seasons (Warrick, 1995). Quinlan, George, and Emmett (1987) define YRE as a reorganization of the school calendar, into instructional blocks and vacations distributed across the calendar year to ensure continuous learning. Students that learn in a year-round school, can progress with less interruption during the summer months. Students also retain more information during the four, short break than they would after the normal summer vacation. It is good for children to attend year-round school due to some loss of knowledge and skills over the summer vacation. Not only is this good for the students, but it is also good for the teachers because they would not have to worry about preparing materials to reteach their

Firstly, in year-round schooling less summer means less rest, more stress. When you're stressed your head feels so clogged and worrisome that no new information can be processed; therefore no learning can take place. Students who have less rest