Help Your Students Avoid the "Summer Slide"

Evidence shows that students can lose up to two months of math and reading progress during the “Summer Slide” and if the student is from a low-income household, the potential for more learning loss is significantly higher.  Educators and parents often worry about students’ academic skills during the summer months. Teachers spend up to six weeks reviewing material students forgot over the summer, solely so they can begin teaching the new material. The Slide can cause students to lose more than just knowledge they gained in the past year, over time the losses can lead to a deficit, resulting in students performing below their grade level. With low-income students, the Summer Slide can be devastating, especially since they statistically experience higher learning losses (here's an infographic). Low-income students are less likely to graduate on time, or ever, because of Summer Learning Loss because they have less access to summer education programs. Summer school could be a great resource, but because of the remedial goals of summer school, it has a social stigma causing parents to not enroll their students unless remedial help has been recommended or required.

Technology has provided a great solution to the Summer Slide: apps. There are many educational apps for phones and tablets that have emerged in recent years to help students keep up with school work over the summer. One app, called the Summer Math Program is being offered for free this summer; the app is based on the student's skill level and gradually becomes more difficult. Other options include encouraging students to read over the summer with frequent trips to the library or by starting a family book club. There is also the STEM Activity App, which emails parents activities three days a week that help facilitate critical thinking and problem solving in the areas of Science Technology Engineering and Math. These apps can help curb the loss of learning while making it a fun summer project.

Teachers see the benefit to keeping students engaged in learning over the summer. So much so, districts are looking at ways to extend learning, which sometimes includes mobile devices, to student in need. Schools should recognize many of those kids may not have adequate Internet access during the summer months. It is important to identify before school gets what students may need connectivity.  

Kajeet provides consistent and reliable Internet access to school districts across the country, giving children the opportunities needed to succeed.