Summer Slide- Not As Fun As It Sounds

By Gloria Ellis, M.A.

The term “summer slide” sounds like a lot more fun than it is! It isn’t a dance move or an amusement park ride. This term refers to the loss of academic skills that occurs over the summer months and it is particularly impactful to students with limited access to educational materials and opportunities. Students who do not participate in educational activities over the summer can lose months of learning in reading and math. While standardized test scores indicate that all types of students decrease in their academic skills over the summer, struggling learners are among those who are particularly vulnerable to this learning loss. When school is out, it is up to parents to provide the appropriate learning materials and opportunities for their children.

Understandably, many well-meaning parents simply want to give their struggling students a break over the summer; however, this can end up doing far more harm than good! Rather than look at the summer as a time to “take a break” from academic learning, parents would do better to embrace summer as an opportunity to close the learning gaps! Their children can sustain or even accelerate their progress from the school year, while other students are plateauing or experiencing that “summer slide.” Why would you take a break just as your goal is fixed, or even moving closer to you? However, unfortunately, students with learning challenges often avoid summer learning opportunities and thus experience a greater loss of learning than their peers, resulting in larger academic gaps at the start of the school year- and the cycle continues….

We want to help end this cycle for students in the Ojai Valley! Lighthouse Learning Solutions is offering ten weeks of intensive learning opportunities to children of all ages in our community. We use research-based methodology to dramatically increase skills in the areas of reading fluency, reading comprehension, mathematics, writing, language, social communication, and other areas of learning. Click here for class descriptions, schedules and rates. Let’s make the difference of a lifetime this summer!