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This is part II of a series of blogs that addresses the differences in Skill Maintenance and Academic Remediation. To read part I, click here.

For this post, I will go into the research that has been conducted comparing skill maintenance and remediation programs.

There has been a lot of research on this subject, and it emphasizes an early focus on summer skill maintenance. Two-thirds of the achievement gap at 9^th grade between students of varying socio-economic classes is the loss of academic knowledge over the summer. We know that all students, regardless of race, gender or IQ lose learning over the summer. We also know that mid- to upper-income students have more access to casual and formal learning activities over the summer. And we now know that the achievement gap reflects these differences.

Starting in Kindergarten, the ability of a student to begin the school year prepared with the academic determines much of the student’s progress throughout his education. A student who does not participate in summer learning activities over his elementary school years can be behind by over 18 months in mathematic skills and nearly two years in reading skills by 5^th grade.

As mentioned in my first blog, remediation will always have a role for those students who have not mastered the necessary skills during the school year. But these programs should work cohesively with summer skill maintenance programs. As they progress together, the need for remediation will be reduced resulting in less costly programs and greater skill improvement.

I created ThinkStretch out of frustration of watching students work so hard to regain what they had lost and falling behind in the process as other students began learning material. Thoughtful, low-cost programming is available to ensure every student maintains their academic skills over the summer while enjoying the many benefits that summer brings.

I founded ThinkStretch because the effects of summer learning loss were apparent. I saw first-hand students work hard all year only to lose learned skills over the summer. I was thrilled to see that, of late, summer learning loss has gained greater amounts of attention both in the school systems as well as in the press. Unfortunately, much of the discussion around summer learning loss and its negative effects on students fails to distinguish between academic remediation and maintenance over the summer.

Because of this, I’ve decided to write a blog post, broken into two parts, highlighting the differences between the two options, providing a better understanding of how skill maintenance programs can help to prevent the effects of summer learning loss.

In Part I, I will discuss the main differences between summer remediation programs and summer skill maintenance programs.

Summer skill maintenance programs focus on the practice of a broad set of academic skills in a non-traditional educational setting. Students use and practice mastered skills with the goal of returning to school confident and prepared to learn new material. Students absorb the message that “learning never stops” and dependence on academic remediation programs declines. Summer programs focused on skill maintenance offer a combination of academic and enrichment opportunities often offering a combination of indoor and outdoor activities and can be implemented strictly as a take-home program from schools.

Because summer remediation addresses gaps in student learning, they often have a restricted focus on a small set of academic skills, typically reading intervention and math. Remediation is a backward looking approach, focusing on those students who weren’t able to learn what was taught during the school year. Academic remediation needs are pervasive in low performing schools often characterized by high poverty levels, and students can find themselves needing remediation classes year after year. This can create a vicious cycle when not coupled with a skill maintenance approach.

Cycles of summer remediation that are not paired with skill maintenance in the intervening summers do not show sustained academic gains for students. Many schools offer intervention prior to 3^rd grade, as our nation proliferates “3^rd grade reading guarantees.” However, inexpensive, well implemented summer reading programs from Kindergarten to 3^rd grade can stop the regression of nearly six months – or nearly 2/3 of a grade level – of reading skill loss.

As an education system – parents, schools and community – we need to focus on maintaining student skills over the summer, in addition to remediating skill losses. By maintaining school year skills every summer, the need for remediation due to predictable summer skill loss will be much lower and less costly. Remediation will always have a role for students who have not mastered skills during the school year, and the solutions to these issues are complex and focus on the classroom during the school year – not the summer.

As ThinkStretch has continued an enthusiastic campaign championing the benefits of summer learning, we’ve found, through working with hundreds of schools and tens of thousands of students, that the summer slide can be difficult to overcome. Families, schedules and opportunities vary widely and a one-size fits all solution isn’t always possible. But we’ve also learned that summer learning can help improve a student’s school performance and retention of skills. And recently, the results of a study conducted by the Wallace Foundation align closely with what we’ve learned.

The National Summer Learning Project is a six year effort by the Wallace Foundation to quantify the benefits of two voluntary, consecutive summers of school district academic instruction and enrichment activities on low income students’ success in school. The first results of the six year study are now available and indicate a mix of positive and neutral results across math, reading and socio-emotional outcomes.

We’re excited to see that academic outcomes measured by the study showed positive impacts on mathematics scores for students. Previous studies have shown all students lose some math skills over the summer, and this study now reaffirms that summer learning programs help students retain math skills. Studies have also shown that only some students lose reading skills which might attribute to the neutral results for students’ reading outcomes.

We believe there is a large and influential role that family engagement plays in summer learning opportunities. Unfortunately, this study does not address the role of family engagement in a student’s academic success, though it does reinforce our finding that families are extremely willing to commit voluntary time to summer learning. While summer has proven to be a source of high anxiety for parents as they search for productive activities for their students, a unique opportunity is presented when summer activities are associated with their school district.

As the study progresses, it will be interesting to evaluate the level of summer learning occurring in the control group. The educational community has long recognized the positive role of summer learning in both reading and math. It is encouraged by schools, libraries and community groups, often with free book giveaways. ThinkStretch and other researchers have shown that free choice summer reading can be as effective as summer school at maintaining reading levels.

We commend the Wallace Foundation and the school districts of Boston, Dallas, Duval, Pittsburgh, and Rochester NY for the innovative efforts and rigorous study of the important issue of summer learning loss on low income students. As a strong supporter of summer learning opportunities for all students, we’re happy to see that the core foundations of our summer learning program are bolstered with the first results from the National Summer Learning Project. We look forward to following the ongoing research into best practices in the field of summer learning.

We’d like to welcome you to our brand new site! We’ve made some big changes here, but our goal will always remain the same, end summer learning loss, engage students all year-round and instill a genuine passion for learning.

With the philosophy that “learning never stops”, we’ve made a few upgrades to better assist everyone that visits our site. So whether you’re a school administrator, teacher, homeschooler, parent or PTO member, you’ll be able to find exactly what you need.

Although we’ve made some major changes, you should still expect the same great content, fun and engaging activities and a summer learning program that will keep students actively learning throughout the summer.

So take a look around and let us know what you think!