As we head into summer, most students (and teachers) feel at least some measure of relief, more than ready for a bit of rest and relaxation. But parents and educators alike also sometimes worry about the potential for “learning loss” given months away from the classroom; it’s a phrase that, along with “coronavirus slide,” has recently been popping up in news articles and opinion pieces with some frequency over the past 2-3 years. In this week’s post, we look into the research, and suggest a way to reframe the issue around potential for growth.
The general anxiety around COVID’s prolonged effect on student learning is justified, given the unprecedented nature of the pandemic’s disruption. Massive rollouts of tutoring support or increased classroom time have attempted to make up for missed material. These initiatives often use research around summer learning loss to make predictions about how much material students may be missing as a result of school closures.
Academic studies in the late 1980s and 1990s, including an oft-cited meta-analysis by Harris Cooper, established the concept of summer learning loss as a major driver of student achievement gaps. According to these studies, the average student might lose as much as a month of progress in math and reading levels, which, compounded over several years of schooling, could accumulate to a significant disadvantage. Using these measures, one research group suggested that the “coronavirus slide” in combination with normal summer learning loss could result in a year’s worth of catch-up in math and science subjects.
More recent work, though, suggests that the reality is more complex; while many students do indeed lose ground academically over the summer, others stay at a similar level, and some are even able to continue to progress. These results support a conclusion that might seem intuitive: the classroom is not the only place where students learn, and for certain students, it’s not even the most important. Rather, a supportive home environment, paired with project-based learning and targeted summer activities -- some with an academic bent, along with others that are more creative and/or social -- can ensure that students continue along their unique educational trajectories.
There is hope to be had in the realization that learning comes in many forms, and targeted doses of academic practice over the summer can have a significant effect. While making sure that students have the break they need, families should seek to build in these learning opportunities along the way.