Allison Bourke, RECE, M.PSYCH, Director, Oxford Learning Waterloo
While I hate to say it, it may take years for students to recover from the pandemic. It created larger gaps in learning, weaknesses in social skills and affected mental well-being. While many might say that students are not behind, we must remember not everyone started at the same level and next September will forge on ahead regardless of a student’s current level.
The Summer months are an opportunity for students to catch up and get a head start on next year’s learning. However, the idea of summer learning doesn’t always sit well with students and parents. After all, the last thing that most students want to do is spend their summer learning.
Check out these five common assumptions about summer learning—and why they might be incorrect:
While the school year can be tiring, research shows that kids thrive with structure such as the one that the school year provides. A break from the school-year routine can be invigorating for a short period of time. Too-long of a break rarely helps students feel recharged; rather, it leads to boredom and academic malaise.
Without replacing the school day structure with summer camps or other regular day programs, children can become disengaged from not only their routines but also from learning. Video games, texting, movies, and lounging by the pool are fun, but eventually, relaxation and downtime become boring too. Providing mentally stimulating summer activities that are reliable and routine is the best way to avoid summer boredom and keep kids charged up and ready to take on a new school year.
The most common school year as we know it—from September to June—exists because of two main reasons: At the turn of the last century, agricultural societies required children to help out with farming chores during busy growing seasons and, in cities, schools were unbearably hot during summer and made teaching and learning in poorly-ventilated buildings a health hazard. The current 180-day school calendar is still in place, even if the reasons for it are no longer valid.
School boards don’t intend summer to be a “break” for students—policymakers are simply continuing to follow a system that has been in place for many years, and, coincidentally, one that has come to be beneficial to cash-strapped school boards.
Summer is just as important to a student’s overall learning experience as what is learned from September to June. In terms of the brain, learning runs 24-7, all year round. Research suggests that year-round learning is actually better for students. It’s time to stop thinking about the school year as only September to June: there is no final bell on a student’s education. Just think about the teacher’s that suggest keeping up the reading during the summer.
While summer school may have at one time been reserved for those students needing extra help, that is no longer the case. Summer school attendance doesn’t mean that students have bad grades: students looking to get ahead, tackle extra credits, and get a competitive advantage by signing themselves up for summer school.
This is the scariest myth about summer learning. After a summer spent relaxing, students may feel refreshed, but they are far from ready to learn. Research into summer learning shows that after taking a two-month break, students can lose anywhere 20-30 % of their academic learning momentum: they’ve gone backward in terms of learning. Students aren’t ready to learn after a summer off: they’ve lost their learning momentum after two months of video games and relaxing at the beach.
The summer slide, the brain drain, or summer learning losses—whatever you call it, it can be easily prevented. A few hours a week of active academic learning keeps the brain sharp, so that when September rolls around, students are ready to learn and take on the challenges of a new school year.
Allison Bourke, RECE, M.PSYCH
Director
Oxford Learning Waterloo
