Prevent “The Summer Slide”

Most children who don’t participate in learning activities over the summer  forget things or fall behind their peers once the new school year begins. Summer learning loss or “the summer slide” is the phenomenon that occurs when children forget academic material after taking long breaks from school.  Research regarding summer learning loss suggests that: 

• On average, students lose about two months of grade level equivalency in math and reading.
• Teachers spend the first four to six weeks of the new school year re-teaching material from the previous year. 
• Summer learning loss has a greater impact on low-income students, contributing substantially to the achievement gap in reading when compared with higher income peers. 
• Summer learning loss is cumulative; over time it can create a gap of two to five years by the time students reach high school.