How can boards help combat summer learning loss?

Many school district and county office of education boards recognize that an extended break from instructional classroom days may result in significant learning loss, especially among underserved and low-achieving students.

Summer learning loss is the term used to describe the phenomenon of students returning to classrooms in the fall having forgotten some of what they learned during the previous school year. Researchers have been documenting summer learning loss over the last several decades and the evidence of its negative effects continues to grow. In a study of 18 million first to sixth graders from 2008–16 by the American Educational Research Association, researchers looked at test scores over the course of five summers and found students can lose up to 40 percent of a school year’s learning over summer break — and the effect was cumulative if they continued to have learning loss in consecutive summers.

Boards have an important role to play in helping to mitigate summer learning loss. Research shows that providing students more time for learning during the summer months is one of the most effective ways to avoid learning loss and enhance students’ progress, especially for those without access to summer enrichment opportunities. Programs that include a broad approach to learning that goes well beyond remedial activities have been shown to be particularly effective.

Tough questions arise as trustees ponder how they can keep high-need students from falling cumulatively behind year-after-year as compared to their peers whose circumstances allow for summertime enrichment options — concerts, museums, camps, travel, etc. Boards can and should find ways to bring passion and resources to students that slow the summer learning slide, championing and facilitating summer options that rival their local educational agency’s best regular school year programs.

Questions boards should consider when discussing impactful summer learning strategies include:

• How do the proposed summer programs mesh with our LEA’s Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) priorities?
• Do the programs’ measurement mechanisms track both students’ academic progress and social-emotional well-being?
• What steps can be taken to encourage partnerships with community-based groups?
• How do staffers ensure the programs encourage mastery of academics, while also nurturing collaboration and problem-solving?
• What creative funding approaches can the LEA’s administration propose to guide board members resourcing decisions?
• How are summer programs addressing whole-child needs including healthy habits?

Governance teams that are interested in “turning up the heat” on summer learning loss can review CSBA’s Summer Learning guide at csba.pub/summer-learning-guide. For summer learning in action, see the San Luis Coastal Unified School District’s Golden Bell Award-winning Summer Experience program at se.slcusd.org.