Research on Summer Learning Loss

The following information comes from Making the Most of Summer: A Handbook on Effective Summer Programming and Thematic Learning, published in 2006 by the Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University. Reprinted with permission from the Center for Summer Learning . 

• 2006 marked the 100th anniversary of the first known research on summer vacation’s impact on learning. In 1906, William White discovered that students’ math computation skills deteriorated in both speed and accuracy after a break from regular practice and instruction.
  
  
• White’s discovery has since been confirmed by at least 39 additional studies showing that children are at significant risk of summer learning loss or summer slide.
  
  
• Children experience learning loss when they do not engage in academic activities over the summer. (Cooper, 1996)
  
  
• Nearly all children lose about three months of math computation skills over the summer. (Cooper, 1996)
  
  
• Children from low-income families lose over 2 months of reading achievement over the summer. Children from higher-income families make slight gains in reading achievement during the summer. (Cooper, 1996)
  
  
• Summer learning loss is not the only negative impact of summer vacation.
  

• In the summer, children’s habits are less healthy than during the school year. In fact, children who are overweight tend to gain more weight over the summer. (Downey, Von Hippel, Powell, Rowland, 2005)
  

• Research shows that young people who are not supervised when they are not in school are more likely to:
  

• Experiment with and become addicted to alcohol, drugs, and tobacco
• Commit criminal and other high-risk behaviors
• Make poor grades
• Drop out of school
• Become victims of violent crime