The good old Kiwi summer is associated with many things: bright red pōhutukawa, Christmas at the beach, jandals, long sunny days, pavlova, lemonade iceblocks and backyard barbecues. But for some children, it’s also associated with something much less positive—a decline in achievement.
What is the summer learning effect?
Over the summer break, children and teens have been shown to lose some of their knowledge and skills accumulated from the previous school year. This is often measured with standardised tests, where students will demonstrate a percentage point drop at the beginning of the school year compared to the end of the previous school year.
Read the latest print edition of School News online HERE.
In local and international research, this phenomenon is termed “summer learning loss” or the “summer learning effect” (SLE). It’s been identified both overseas and locally in Aotearoa as a major barrier to achievement, and equitable outcomes in education.
It’s important to note that while SLE has been documented and studied for decades, there is inconsistent evidence on the size of the effect and how it is impacted by the length of summer holidays (if at all).1 This is partially due to the measurement inconsistencies in the literature. Studies range, with some finding that SLE can be equivalent to the loss of a month or more of learning, and others finding SLE attributable to a simple stagnation in progress.
Overseas evidence also shows mixed evidence for variations in SLE by year group.2 Some data shows learning loss is more pronounced at higher year levels, whereas others find the effect is more pronounced in lower year levels. In New Zealand, the phenomenon has largely been studied in lower year level groups, with interventions focused on primary-aged tamariki.
One of the most studied aspects of SLE is a decline in literacy over the summer period, but SLE has been found in other subjects too, like mathematics and writing. It’s unclear to what extent each subject domain experiences SLE, but evidence suggests SLE may be more pronounced in subjects that require memorisation and procedural skills like maths and spelling compared to areas that require abstract understanding.1
Widening inequity
Studies in Aotearoa New Zealand show that SLE is most pronounced in students from minority ethnic groups, and students from lower socioeconomic schools.1 In New Zealand, Māori and Pasifika students are found to have larger learning drops than Pākehā students.1,3 Additionally, students from lower socioeconomic schools may experience a larger SLE even after accounting for ethnicity.1 Those from wealthier backgrounds may continue gaining progress over summer.
This finding is replicated in other contexts too, with American students from disadvantaged backgrounds displaying the most significant SLE in the US.2
Researchers believe the SLE is due to a lack of opportunities to learn and/or practise skills over the summer.4 For reading and writing, SLE could be exacerbated by a lack of access to books, fewer choices of material of interest, lack of skills and self-motivation, negative attitudes, fewer opportunities to practise and a lack of role models.5 One paper suggests that extracurricular activities during summer are important to ameliorate SLE, which could explain the disparity of SLE between families of different socioeconomic status.4 Differences in summer learning may also result from differing parent strategies and expectations for their children over the summer break.6
Interestingly, one recent overseas paper found that the SLE is most prominent for exceptional students from a low socioeconomic background. This implies that SLE observed between socioeconomic bands primarily results from disparities between exceptional students.6
Local researchers found that New Zealand students demonstrated the largest SLE in writing. They suggest that this is because writing is a complex skill which involves recall and procedure, and writing is less practised over summer than reading.1
Proven interventions
In New Zealand, two studies have examined how we might mitigate the SLE in reading and writing.
One study looked at the SLE on literacy in low socioeconomic schools with a high proportion of Māori and Pacific students. Researchers examined the teaching practices of classes which demonstrated high and low SLE. They found that students with low SLE had someone helping them read at home, and were encouraged to self-select reading material over the holidays by their teachers. Students who were sent home with specific reading material demonstrated the highest SLE, suggesting reading enjoyment is a crucial aspect of mitigating SLE in literacy over the holidays.2
With these findings, researchers developed an intervention aimed at mitigating the SLE. The intervention included:
- Teacher preparation: Discovering students’ reading interests and designing an associated topic-based study with specific texts.
- Parent guidance: Supporting parents to help their child’s summer engagement.
- Student review: Students self-reported their reading practise over summer.
The study found that students who completed the review had a reduction in their SLE.3
International evidence draws similar conclusions. In the US, a home-based summer reading programme called READS for Summer Learning has been shown to decrease the SLE for lower socioeconomic students in the intermediate-age band. The intervention includes mailing students eight books over the course of the summer that are matched to their interests, along with a review paper.2
Another intervention trialled in low-income New Zealand schools asked students to blog over the summer. This was modelled on overseas research which found that students self-initiated ongoing writing over the summer for social communication or journaling, that is, for social and leisure activities. The study found the intervention worked to mitigate SLE in reading and writing, especially for students that posted at least twice a week. Participants scored higher than a control group on their progressive achievement test (PAT).7
Combatting the summer slide
Given the wealth of research, it seems the summer slide doesn’t have to be a given for our ākonga. Students that demonstrate a decline in achievement over summer can and should be given resources and interventions to ensure they continue to progress even over the school break. Importantly, some of these interventions and practices do not need to be restricted to the end of the school year, or employed just before the break, but can be developed and encouraged throughout the year to mitigate SLE into the future as children move through their school years.
The New Zealand study on reading interventions found that mentoring students in meta strategies such as developing their literary engagement and taste, identifying their interests, and teaching students how to access texts, is effective for promoting reading as a summer leisure activity.3 This has the added benefit of improving student engagement with reading overall, as these strategies enhance students’ enjoyment and engagement of texts. By strengthening awareness of which texts they enjoy, where to get them and how to find and select appropriate texts from resources like public libraries or online websites, teachers can strengthen students’ overall intrinsic motivation and enjoyment of reading, which has been demonstrated to improve overall student literacy.
Another important component is supporting parents and whānau to guide at-home reading. Students with a lower SLE had parents who were able to identify specific support practices such as discussing reading material with their child, enabling their child’s access to texts, and encouraging their child to focus on reading for enjoyment rather than academic success.3
One intervention for SLE in literacy that can be implemented in Term One is to review students’ summer habits for reading, writing or wider learning. One study found that the process of reviewing summer habits at the beginning of the year was associated with a dramatic decrease in SLE. The researchers posit the review may enable teachers to get to know their students and their learning habits and interests.
Another explanation is the review focuses teacher and student on specific areas of learning in preparation for the school year.3
Perhaps your school has noticed a marked SLE for some cohorts or students this year. It’s never too early to start planning an intervention or come up with a wider school strategy to address achievement in certain subject areas, especially over summer. Resources to help plan your school’s summer reading strategy are available on the National Library website and can be adapted for other subject areas.
References
1Meyer, Frauke, Esther S. Yao and Kane Meissel. 2019. “The summer learning effect in writing in New Zealand.” Reading and Writing 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-019-10003-6
2Quinn, David M., and Morgan Polikoff. September 14, 2017. “Summer learning loss: What is it, and what can we do about it?” Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/summer-learning-loss-what-is-it-and-what-can-we-do-about-it/
3McNaughton, Stuart, Rebecca Jesson, Tone Kolose and Sophie Kercher. 2012. “School achievement: Why summer matters.” Teaching & Learning Research Initiative. http://www.tlri.org.nz/tlri-research/research-completed/school-sector/school-achievement-why-summer-matters
4Baş, Gökhan. 2023. “Effect of summer vacation on learning loss in mathematics: a meta-analysis of the findings.” Journal of Education for Life 37(2): 565 – 580. https://doi.org/10.33308/26674874.2023372572
5National Library. n.d. “Research on the summer slide and summer reading.” Accessed November 26, 2024. https://natlib.govt.nz/schools/reading-engagement/summer-reading/summer-slide-and-summer-reading-research
6Gershenson, Seth and Michael S. Hayes. 2017. “The summer learning of exceptional students”. American Journal of Education 123(3). 447-473
7Willianson, Rachael, Rebecca Jesson and Daisy Shepherd. 2019. “The summer learning journey: ameliorating the summer learning effect using blogging”. Computers & Education 145(2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2019.103738
