The Learning Season: The Untapped Power of Summer to Advance Student Achievement

Nellie Mae Education FoundationBeth M. Miller, Ph.D., MMRAJune 20, 2007

The Learning Season

• Summer learning loss drives the test-score gap

between children from low income families and their

peers

• Summer opportunities can make a real difference in

children’s learning

• If we care about educational equity, we need to take

summer opportunities seriously

The Test Score Achievement Gap:Beginning School Study

250

300

350

400

450

500

550

600

Fall 1 Spring 5

Scor

e

Low SES High SES

VERBAL CAT BY SEASON AND SES (Alexander, Entwisle, and Olson)

The Test Score Achievement Gap:Beginning School Study

250

300

350

400

450

500

550

600

Fall 1 Spring1

Fall 2 Spring2

Fall 3 Spring3

Fall 4 Spring4

Fall 5 Spring5

Scor

e

Low SES High SES

VERBAL CAT BY SEASON AND SES (Alexander, Entwisle, and Olson)

The Learning Season:Baltimore Beginning School Study

Followed from school entry to age 22 1/3 of differences in 9th grade Reading

Comprehension scores attributable to preschool differences, 2/3 to summer learning differences

Differences have major impact (separate from income, race, etc) on: High school placement (academic or non-academic

track) Dropping out Attending 4-year college

Why seasonal learning loss? The Resource Faucet Theory

adapted from Entwisle, Alexander, and Olson, 1997

The Learning Season:What does the research say?

Downey and colleagues• Learning gap for poor children grows much

faster in summer (K-1)

• Many schools are mis-categorized by annual testing regimens

• Schools less successful for African American students

The Learning Season:What does the research say?

Cooper and colleagues• Review of 39 studies, meta-analysis of 13

• All students lose skills in math (2.6 m)

• Low income students lose skills in reading, while middle income gain (lose 1.5 m compared to gain of 2.3 m)

The Learning Season:Summer vs. school year differences

Adapted from Downey, 2004

Non-school environ-ment

School environ-ment

The Learning Season:Brain Development

• All domains linked

• Summer learning = integrated learning

• Neural connections made through “hands-on experience”

• Brain needs time to reflect and “soak in” new information

• Background knowledge is key to learning

Income Gap in Summer Program Participation

Participation in Summer Activities (Condition of Education, 1998)

0

20

40

60

Low Income Middle Income High Income

Perc

ent

CRITICAL HOURS• Summer reading interventions

• Summer school, extended school year

• Summer camp

• Hybrid academic enrichment-youth

development programs

Research on “Hybrid” Summer Programs

Teach Baltimore• Serves over 2,000 youth using trained college

students in 7 week program

• Combines literacy with wide enrichment focus

• Random assignment of children on waiting list to summer program or “control” group

• Strong effects on test scores for children who attended for 3 years

Research on “Hybrid” Summer Programs

BELL Summer Program

• Random assignment study

• Children who attended BELL summer program

gained additional 1 month of reading skills

(instead of losing 3)

• Parents encouraged children to read more

The Learning Season:Recommendations

• Increase ACCESS and EFFECTIVENESS

• Rethink educational ACCOUNTABILITY

• RESEARCH the best ways to solve the “opportunity

gap”

The Learning Season: The Untapped Power of Summer to Advance Student Achievement

Nellie Mae Education FoundationBeth M. Miller, Ph.D., MMRAJune 20, 2007