This is just one example of ways that communities across the country are trying to combat a phenomenon called “summer learning loss.” This loss of learning over the summer can mean an academic setback for some children that will take weeks, and in some cases months, to remedy in the fall.

“One hundred years of research confirms that all young people are at risk of losing ground academically over the summer months,” says Ron Fairchild, Executive Director of the Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland.

According to Dr. Harris Cooper, Professor of Psychology at Duke University and the director of the program in education, test scores were, on average, at least one month lower when students returned to school in the fall than when they left in the spring…

“The areas that kids most forget are the things that they learn through repetition and practice, such as spelling words and math computation,” says Cooper.

Research points to the fact that all young people are at risk of losing more than two months in math computation skills, regardless of where they are in the socioeconomic spectrum…

“By the time that kids reach fifth grade,” says Fairchild, “on average, low income kids are close to two years behind their higher income peers in reading performance as a result of their experiencing summer learning loss.”

And with teachers spending between two and six weeks at the beginning of each school year re-teaching material that students have forgotten over the summer, the ramifications of summer learning loss might affect all students.

Why the learning loss?

One of the reasons for the losses in reading and math skills over the summer may have to do with how embedded the practice of these skills are in the child’s environment.

“Parents who know the importance of reading will make sure that their kids read over the summer — and it is not unusual for kids to find things to read,” says Cooper. “Math is less naturally embedded in children’s environment, so they are more likely to forget math skills over the summer.” …

“If professional athletes or musicians took a three-month break from any type of training or practice, you would expect them to come back to their sport or to their orchestra experiencing a lag in their performance, and it would take a while to get back into performance shape.”

And while many parents lament the loss of the lazy days of summer, experts emphasize that learning doesn’t stop just because the school year ends.

“Forgetting things is something that all humans do,” Cooper says. “Kids have active minds and they are learning all the time. So it doesn’t make much sense to ignore what they are being exposed to for three months of the year.” …

Source: CNN.com
http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/06/29/summer.learning.loss/