WORRIED YOUR KIDS will forget what they learned in school over the summer? Scholars have been studying the problem for over a century.
When William White, a New York state mathematics professor, set out in the early 1900s to study how much math students remembered over summer vacation, he checked to see how well they would do at the start of school on tests they had taken at the end of the previous school year.
Whereas second graders on average got nine out of 70 questions wrong in June, after the summer break on average they got 25 out of 70 wrong. But after two weeks of drills, the number of wrong answers dropped to 15.
His study – published in 1906 – was one of the first to identify what educators today refer to as “summer learning loss,” the negative effect that a long summer break has on students’ ability to remember facts and skills they learned the previous school year.
Studies of summer loss increased in the 1990s. Over the summer, students typically lose the equivalent of about a month’s worth of learning, mostly in the areas of math facts and spelling.
Some people have argued that summer loss wouldn’t occur if the U.S. had a longer school year. For instance, they point to countries such as China, where the school year is 245 days, as opposed to the traditional 180-day school year in the U.S. China is ranked first in the top 20 nations in terms of student scores in math, science and reading. The U.S. is ranked No. 25 out of 77 countries.
But shorter school years don’t always result in lower test scores. For instance, students in Ireland outscore American students on math, science and reading by an average of 10 points, according to the Program for International Student Assessment, yet attend school for only 167 days.
There are ways that parents and other caregivers can stave off summer loss that do not involve school.
Model what you want to see. Children will do what they see the adults around them do. Summer is the perfect time for you to reduce screen time and increase time reading, writing, taking walks, playing games or having conversations.
Visit the library. Children love independence. One of the best ways to allow children to demonstrate independence is to have them browse the shelves of the local library and select books that they can read independently or for you to read aloud to them.
Play games during trips. When traveling by car, bus or train, there are games – both word and number – that you can engage in with your children. For instance, you can play “I Spy with My Little Eye” or even look for all the words that begin with a certain letter. These activities not only keep children engaged but also incrementally sharpen their skills in a wide range of academic areas.
Encourage your children to keep a summer journal. To get them started, suggest one journal entry of “10 Things I Want to Do Before Summer is Over.” The list can include activities such as watching the sunrise or going an entire day without wearing shoes. Encourage children to fill the journal with writing and drawing.
Visit landmarks. Plan visits to acquaint you and your children with local landmarks. Document the visit with a journal entry, drawings or photographs and some research.
Plan weekly family picnics. Let your children plan the menu, cook with you and pick the picnic site. Research has found that involving children in the preparation of meals by doing things such as making grocery lists can help improve their reading, writing and math skills.
Suzanne McLeod is an assistant professor of educational leadership at Binghamton University State University of New York. Distributed by The Associated Press.
