Preventing Summer Learning Loss

When I was in second grade, I remember thinking that the school year was a full year long and summer break was a full year as well.

It’s funny to look back on that time and reflect on how engrossed I was with the learning process and that I was alright with it being a full year! Even now, as I am at the college level, I find myself continuing to seek education and learning opportunities even during the summer months.

As educators, it is our fear to think that our students will lose valuable information over the summer and that we will spend our first several weeks in August trying to reteach last year’s material. I think the idea of learning all year long is something that we should begin to implement into the minds of our students in order to build in them a lifelong love of learning.

So, what is the cure for the dreaded “summer learning loss” syndrome?

In my own experience, my parents made it a point to keep me involved in some type of educational activity during the summer, whether it be the local library’s reading program or field trips to the science museum.

I believe that these opportunities to continue my educational growth even during the summer was very beneficial. I believe more programs should be created for students to help cure not only summer boredom, but also help reduce the amount of summer learning loss that is so common in schools today.

Learning all year long takes dedicated individuals who understand the importance of keeping students’ brains activated and engaged. Many schools create summer programs and events for their students such as theatre camps, science symposiums and sports events. These activities allow students to understand the importance of learning even outside of the classroom.

Personally, I love challenging myself to continue to gain more knowledge during the summer, and I find that it helps ease the transition when school comes back around.

In my future classroom, I want to make sure I encourage my students to develop a plan for learning all year long, and I want to provide opportunities for them to make it happen.

Want to read more about this month’s blog topic? Check out our recent post. Learn more about the College of Education by visiting GCU’s website.