How to Avoid the "Summer Learning Loss"

As any teacher can tell you, summer vacation seems to have the enigmatic ability to "drain the knowledge" out of a student. This phenomenon is identified as "summer learning loss" in educational research and is a real problem. Teachers complain year after year that they spend the first few months of school reteaching the information that their students were expected to have retained from the previous academic year. Students are tired of this lamenting, and in truth, are themselves frustrated by the annual cycle of studying new concepts and growing their academic skills for 7 months, forgetting them entirely in 3 months only to have to study them once again in the first 2 months of the following school year. This ebb and flow method of teaching and reteaching is quite clearly not ideal in terms of time management, yet attempts to address this issue each have specific drawbacks. Extending the school year is one option that is most often mentioned. Many public school districts have employed longer schedules, but as of yet, this calendar shift hasn't been definitively proven to improve information retention significantly.

Parents are concerned with how to help their children be academically successful while getting the opportunity to enjoy non-academic summer opportunities.

A recent survey by the Academy for Education Development found that nearly half of American parents (43 percent) just want their kids to have fun and relax during the summer. Second and third priorities for their children were learning new things (24 percent) and preparing for school (22 percent)."

Both academics and summer fun are important to consider when planning your children's summer activities. Encourage your children to participate in activities that are geared towards character building and feeling self-confident and relaxed while incorporating academic skill building and retention.

There are low-cost flexible options. Online teaching programs introduce and reinforce student learning at various speeds and in tech-friendly modalities. These creative new tools allow students to enjoy "summer vacation" activities while reinforcing the skills they learned throughout the academic year. Many online programs offer free one month trials or low-cost three month options and can be downloaded to almost electronic device. Students are able to determine when they log in and, in many cases, take a pre-assessment to determine whether or not they need supplemental instruction prior to beginning each section. If they already have mastered the skill, they move on to the next. If they need additional support, many choices are offered.

Beyond the obvious academic benefits of participating in an online learning program over the summer, there is an enigmatic benefit that both parents and students can feel yet may initially have difficulty identifying; it is the averted summer school frustration and discord. The "summer learning loss" might not be eradicated entirely through online learning but it can be lessened, opening up a new chapter in your children's educational experience.