Preventing Summer Learning Loss: Why It Matters and How to Combat It

What Is Summer Learning Loss?

Summer learning loss or “the summer slide” refers to the loss of academic skills and knowledge that students experience over the summer break, particularly in subjects like math and reading. This loss happens when students, without regular academic engagement, forget some of what they learned during the school year. For example, at the end of the school year second graders may have been working on subtraction. If these children don’t work on subtraction for three months during the summer, when they go back to school in the fall, many will have forgotten how to do the same subtraction problems they were doing just months before. So this means that they need a couple weeks of remediation to get back to where they were at the end of the previous school year.

Why To Be Concerned About Summer Learning Loss

When summer learning loss occurs, students must spend time at the beginning of the school year reviewing things that they already spent time doing the previous school year. And if you think about those couple weeks of remediation compounded year over year, there’s a lot of time that is spent trying to catch up from summer learning loss which could have been spent on students learning new material. Research indicates that students typically lose about one to three months’ worth of academic skills over the summer months, with the most significant losses in math and reading comprehension.

Additionally, the summer slide disproportionately affects students of color and students from low socio-economic households. Many white and affluent children spend their summers in summer camps and participating in learning activities at home, and these opportunities are not available for all children. So the disparities that already exist between races and classes of children during the school year are only exacerbated by the summer slide.

Should Children Go To School In The Summer?

You may be wondering: “Why do we have a school schedule that allows students to be away from their learning environment for three months at a time when we know that summer learning loss will occur?” Well this all comes from the history of our public school system and how public schools were originally founded. When public schooling began in our nation, children were still viewed as economic contributors to their families. Children often worked on their family’s farms since summer was the harvest time when more hands were needed and therefore the school schedule revolved around the needs of families at that time. But that is obviously not how our society works any longer. So it is interesting to see how the system has not changed even though the research consistently demonstrates how the summer learning loss negatively affects students.

Year-round schools have grown in popularity over the past few decades. A typical year-round schedule is where students are in school for 9 weeks, followed by a 3 week break, and this continues during the entire calendar year. Advocates of the year-round schedule point to the fact that this schedule reduces the amount of summer learning loss and keeps students engaged throughout the entire year.

We have a podcast episode for this!

Check out Episode 04 to hear from a year-round parent and their experience with the schedule.

What Parents Can Do To Prevent Summer Learning Loss

Summer is such a fun time for children. I think that many of us parents can look back on our summers as children and there are a lot of fun memories. It’s when families often take their vacations and visit the beach, the lake, or go visit their families in other parts of the country. Summertime is often when children have a lot of freedom to explore the things that are interesting to them. Perhaps your children attend summer camps that focus on something that they love such as art, a particular sport or just a good old-fashioned summer camp with tons of fun and memorable activities.

Summer is great for kids’ free time, and letting children experience a bit of boredom where they have to be creative to figure out how to have fun. And at the same time, there are some things that we can do as parents to prevent summer learning loss without our children feeling like they have to still be in school all summer. Here are some things that you can do to keep your kid fresh and engaged so that they start the school year strong.

Read to and with your child every day- I know you’ve heard this one before, and it’s probably something that you have already been in the groove with during the school year. But don’t stop now. Go to the library each month and let your child pick out a stack of books. Make sure you’re reading every evening and on those really hot days, curl up on the couch and read some books together.
Play board games– Board games challenge a child’s mind in so many different ways. You can find board games that focus on math, problem-solving skills, even phonics and reading games. There are so many to choose from and truly, you can’t go wrong. Playing any type of board game can help teach your child basic skills like emotion regulation, counting as they move spaces around the board, being able to read numbers on dice, playing cooperatively with other players…the benefits are endless!
Purchase a workbook- If your child is in preschool or beyond, there are plenty of options for simple workbooks that will keep their brains engaged and keep them practicing their academic skills. This doesn’t have to be stressful: perhaps you can set a goal for your child to complete one or two pages of their workbook each day. These workbooks are leveled by age or grade so it’s pretty easy to purchase the one that will best suit your child’s academic abilities.
Learning Apps– There are endless apps that you could use for your child to keep them engaged with their academic learning. People have different levels of comfort with screen time so only use this suggestion if you need it or if you feel comfortable with your child’s screen use. If you can find a high-quality app that will engage your child for a few minutes each day, then this can be a great option as well. Our personal favorite is Khan Academy Kids because it doesn’t have any ads and the content is all academic-based and done in a really fun and lighthearted way.

Like these ideas?

If you’d like specific suggestions for books, board games, and workbooks- we’ve got an epic list of those here.

And Don't forget- have fun!

There’s a lot more to life (and childhood!) than just academics. Spending quality time with parents, enjoying the outdoors, and having some unstructured free time are all important ingredients for kids to have a successful summer.