LEARNING RECOVERY: BRIDGING THE GAP WITH SUMMER PROGRAMS

LEARNING RECOVERY:

Bridging the Gap With Summer Programs

BY JOHNATHAN D. KINDALL

very summer, parents and educators can expect some “brain drain” from their teenage students. Time away from the classroom naturally results in the so-called “summer slide,” and while there’s plenty of things that parents and students can do to fight it, some degree of summer learning loss is understandable, typical and inevitable.

However, as you probably well know, the last two years have been anything but typical. These times were difficult for students of all ages, and the learning loss was tremendous, widespread and devastating. COVID-19, remote learning, staffing shortages and more have made the last two years of learning incredibly difficult for students and teachers alike, and while many schools have started making strides to recover and find a new sense of normalcy, the learning loss from this period cannot be understated.

During the pandemic, test scores and other important performance indicators of student success dropped by a large margin, and while recovery efforts are underway in school districts across the country and world, the work is slow-going. For starters, the learning loss was felt differently across various groups, and there’s no guarantee that what works for one student will work for another. In fact, the amount of learning loss experienced varies greatly based on age, location and income level, and the pandemic only intensified many inequities already present within the education system.

Additionally, it’s hard to know exactly what is working, as schools are trying anything and everything to help recover from their losses. Initiatives like specialized tutoring and intensive after-school programs are great and certainly successful to some degree, but, at a large scale, it's unclear which countermeasures are having what effect.

What is clear however, is that summer enrichment programs are more important than ever. For more than a decade, TeenLife has championed the many benefits of summer programs, and now, the stakes have never been higher. Summer programs, like all of the opportunities listed in this guide, offer a specialized, structured and outof-the-classroom experience that is all but guaranteed to help students fight the summer slide.