Summer Learning Loss

A majority of schools in North America, and many in other jurisdictions too, run on a ten month calendar that leaves students with the two summer months free.  While no doubt a lot of our kids are happy for the opportunity to be outside in the warm weather, summer vacation comes at a price.

Summer learning loss, sometimes called “summer slide,” has been investigated by educators over the past two decades. While most parents may only have heard the phrase lately, it is a phenomenon many will have noted in their own children for some time. Being away from the classroom and the books causes a large number of students to forget things they have learned over the previous school year. Studies show that, while losses in reading scores depend largely on factors such as special needs (e.g. second language learners who do not speak English at home) and on socioeconomic status, most students will experience significant losses in math skills over the summer months.

Summer slide in reading can vary from a loss of two months to a slight gain in skills for students who continue to read and who are exposed to enrichment activities. By comparison, the average loss for math is 2.6 months in a single summer - a period longer than the vacation itself. This is a universal loss experienced by students of both genders, and of a variety of social and academic backgrounds.

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Resources Mostly for Literacy Skills

When I was in primary school summer was a time to close the books and walk away from the classroom. We left home every day right after breakfast and spent all day running around outside, swimming at the local pool, or riding our bikes. Passive activities like reading were reserved for long car trips, or for those very few days when the weather was so unfriendly that even we hardy youths wanted to stay inside.

Things have changed a great deal today, however, and most kids take part in some sort of educational activities over the summer months. This can range from informal home-based activities (self-directed reading, watching educational TV or using educational web sites and games) to community-based activities such as summer school, reading clubs, and camps that incorporate academics in addition to sports and creative activities. Kids may not be in the classroom, but many are exposed to learning activities during the vacation. The problem is, that short of specifically seeking out help in math, most resources available to kids and their parents will involve reading and literacy.

Math is a subject that intimidates a lot of adults. Parents and community leaders feel safe enough teaching kids the difference between short and long vowel sounds, coaching them to “sound out” unfamiliar words, and quizzing them on comprehension at the end of a reading. How many of us are equally comfortable discussing the difference between whole and natural numbers, teaching the properties of a scalene triangle, or talking our children through long division?

We can easily pop into a book store or library and find literature appropriate for our kids. How many of us know what math skills they should be reviewing over the summer months? How many of us would know where to find suitable teaching materials to start our kids on such a review?

The result is a catch 22: our kids need more focus on math over the summer months but since the emphasis has been on literacy, there is little help for a parent wanting to promote numeracy.

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What We Can Do

Despite the fact that math resources are in short supply, there are ways parents can help their kids to keep the year’s math learning fresh in their minds. Over the next few weeks I will highlight some free and inexpensive resources that can be used by parents to prevent summer learning loss, especially in the area of math. To get you started, here are some general tips that should apply no matter how old your child is, or what his current math achievement scores.

1. Practice skills for a brief period each day. Routine is important, especially with smaller or special needs children. Young students may only need 5-10 minutes of practice; older students may be able to go for 20 or even 40 minutes, depending on the type of activity. Always end before your child is tired, and always end with a success. This will encourage her to come back to learn more the next day.
2. Make good use of review – daily, weekly and monthly. This allows your child to test himself, and the repetition is what turns short term memories into long term ones. Frequent review means the challenge is broken down into small, manageable chunks, and doesn’t become overwhelming. Just as it’s healthier to eat several small meals in a day rather than to skip breakfast and lunch, only to overeat at supper, regular review is more helpful to our children as they commit the basics of mathematics to memory.
3. Select activities that use different senses or learning styles. Although teachers do try to teach things in a variety of ways there just isn’t time in a class of 30 to be sure that each topic has been explored with all the senses, and in a way that appeals to every child’s learning style. At home your child can benefit from individualized attention, and from lessons that are designed with her strengths in mind. There are a number of resources that use a multi-sensory approach. Others use different senses and learning styles for different activities. I will share some of the resources I have found useful in future posts.
4. Take advantage of the opportunity to explore math from a variety of viewpoints – not just the repetitive calculations. Look at a biography of a famous mathematician or scientist, or read a book about the history of math. Talk about the practical applications of each new math skill, and explore careers in math, science and technology. A child who is interested in health care, animal rescue, car racing, sports or music may be surprised to learn how much math is used in each of these domains! Watch for resources to help you with this often neglected side of math and science education, including resources for living books that teach math as a story.
5. Set goals with your child, including short-term goals that can be attained in a day or a week. When choosing incentives or rewards, be sure there are small ones that can be given for good effort daily and weekly. If you had been thinking of purchasing a larger reward such as a piece of sports equipment or electronics, buy it right away rather than waiting until a major milestone has been passed. your child can now earn the privilege of its use, day by day and week by week.
6. Make math fun! There is no need to sit at a desk waving a ruler around, and demanding that your child recite his drills aloud. If oral or written drills work for your child do use them, but mix things up too. Workbooks and more formal review can be helpful, but so can learning through play. Many of your favourite children’s games promote math related skills such as counting, colour and shape distinction, or directionality. More advanced games require logic and strategy, counting money or other skills. When children learn that there are immediate practical applications to the skills they are practicing, this is a strong motivator to study.

I hope you will find these introductory principles helpful with your children’s summer math review. Watch here for more posts on summer learning loss and its prevention, in the coming weeks.***

This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License. Excerpts copyright quoted authors. Please visit their sites to read more, and respect the terms of their copyrights. Thanks!

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Tags: career education, engineering, enrichment, extended school year, facts, Innovation & Technology, literacy, living books, Mathematics, memorization, modified school year, numeracy, practice, procedural learning, reading, science, spelling, STEM, summer learning loss, summer school