Help your students avoid falling down the 'summer slide'
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Students across the nation may be at risk of falling down what local grade school teachers call the ‘summer slide.’ A 2020 study by the American Educational Research Association (AERA) found that, on average, students lost 39% of what they learned during the year while on summer break.
52% of U.S. students in grades 1 through 6 lost academic progress during five consecutive summers, according to the AERA study. The research showed that amongst those students, 17-28% of English Language Arts knowledge was lost, and 25-34% of Mathematics knowledge was lost during the summer.
As Central Texas students trade notebooks for sunscreen, some local teachers are already warning them about the risk of falling behind if they don’t keep up with math or reading over the summer break.
Antoinette King, a first-grade teacher at IDEA Public Schools, said her team refers to the regression period as the “summer slide.” While King teaches younger students, she said her colleagues have noticed the effects as far up as 12th grade.
King has made it a point to make her students aware of the ‘summer slide’ and how to avoid it during the break.
“I make sure that I encourage them to continue to read and work on that during the summertime, because I tell them that I know how amazingly smart they are, and they’ll be able to show that to their teachers when they come in the next school year,” King said.
King and her colleagues focus on sharing preventative strategies with both students and parents.
“A lot of it is just continuing to keep their minds engaged, continue reading, continue doing math. It doesn’t have to be sit-down worksheets or things that seem like they’re still in school. It could be something as easy as, let’s go to the library and pick out a book,” King said.
For the younger students, King recommends that parents help their children sound out words. If you are out for a walk and see a sign, encourage your child to try and read a few of the words.
King said another big thing to focus on is math. She said opportunities to practice math are always around.
“So, we’re at the grocery store and I’m picking out limes. How many limes am I picking out? Help me count them. How many kinds of produce do I have altogether? They can even do subtraction. If I take away my peppers, how many do I have left of my peppers and my limes?” King said.
King said having some form of structure can also play a part in helping students practice their math and reading skills without feeling like they’ve left summer break behind. That could be making sure to spend 10 minutes practicing fast math after lunch or reading one book before bed.
“Having things be as consistent as possible, it may not be the exact same routine as it was during the school year, but having some kind of structure so the children know what to expect when the school year starts up again,” King said.
There are plenty of local and free resources available around Central Texas for parents to utilize in order to help their students avoid the ‘summer slide.’ King said her favorite thing she always recommends to parents is the public library.
“The local libraries have so many programs you can go on their websites. They have a calendar of events. They have family activities. They have activities for teens, for toddlers, school-aged children,” King said.
Here are some free resources available to help students keep their academic skills sharp over the summer.
