Running Head: Why the “summer Slide” Phenomenon

Why the “Summer Slide” Phenomenon
Wesley Parker
DTCC
December 12, 2009

“Each fall, teachers regularly spend up to six weeks going over the same lessons their students had been taught the precious school year because of a phenomenon known as the “summer slide.” How kids spend their time outside of school is critically important to their success. It is a societal issue and something that is important to address, community-to-community and parent-to-parent,” said Ron Fairchlid, (2006). Executive Director of the Center for Learning at John Hopkins University). Summer Slide is a name given to the face that student who does not keep up with their level of academic skills over the summer loses them. This situation is usually found in low-income areas. This loss of memory is usually done to the lack of mental stimulation. Since this is a known problem, there are various ways to limit of even preventing this from happening to the students. Summer slide occurs for more than one reason, but the main one is lack of access to books, magazines, or newspapers in the home. In some cases there are no libraries or clubs in the immediate community. Then, there is the lack of education the parents have, most have no higher education themselves and therefore, are unable to persuade the children they need education, so there is a lack of motivation. There is a way of preventing this and for the middle or higher classes it is already being done, but for the lower class help is needed to defeat the problem. It is going to take more than just family to help these children; the community as a whole has to help these children so they do not fail. For many children, summer is their favorite season, a once-in-a-year chance for them to enjoy the sunshine, play with friends, and go outdoors without having to worry about schoolwork. Many parents take advantage for the time to go on family vacations, enroll their kinds in camps, and make trips to museums and parks. Most families, led by caregivers who work outside of the home are unable to provide supervised experiences that are consistently academically engaging, fun, and safe for their children over the summer break. No child left behind asks that all students be held to high academic standards, with the goal of all children achieving grade level proficiency in reading and math by the year 2014. Yet after the final bell has rung, far too few students are in engaged in summertime activities designed to maintain and sharpen their academic skills, particularly critical reading skills that were gained during the school year.” US Department of Education (2007). “There are a lot of areas affected by a person’s inability to read from the person to the community especially the low-income communities. Reading is the key to their success in all other academic subjects. There are more than enough reasons out there that people could say why they do not or cannot read. In the home there are a lot of instances where there is only one parent and the lack of time to spend on making sure the children are being educated or receive early intervention before even starting school. Reading is fundamental to a child’s development. Life will be more challenging in so many ways from school to entertainment if a child cannot read. There are many studies that show how a lack of facility in reading simply makes life more difficult for children and adults. Children who cannot read well often have lack of esteem. There are also many studies that prove that the opportunities in life are greatly diminished if one cannot read. If one thinks of a child in school who is struggling with reading-all their classes will be difficult.” Ken Setterington (2006 p.1). This is true even for the parents in the low-income homes; studies have shown that most people in low-income communities cannot read. When there is a single parent that cannot read they will usually not be able to help a struggling child who cannot read. When this child does not get the needed help the vicious cycle will continue and there is no change in the community. “Whereas, in the school teachers know from experience particularly vulnerable and low-income students, who may already be struggling losses, and by middle school produce a cumulative lag of two or more years, which accounts for 80 to 100 percent of the achievement gap between low and middle income students,” say reading expert Richard Allington Ph.D., of the University of Tennessee. The good news is that the latest research shows children who read at least four books over the summer maintain or even increase their skills. The large and persistent achievement gap between minority poor students and the white middle class students is enduring national problem. What children do during the summer break have tremendous implications for understanding and addressing the achievement gap. Teachers have always encouraged their students to read during the summer. Summer schools are becoming more of an asset to students that need help in reading and other academic subjects. The school, public library, and reading clubs offer summer reading list that the student can follow and win prizes for their reading efforts. “What’s striking now is that there’s a much more concerted effort at the federal, state, and districts levels to encourage kids to read in the summer,” says reading researcher Jimmy Kim, Ph.D of the University of California Irvine. “We must provide school with the resources they need to meet the goals that were set by the US Department of Education, including improving the quality and accessibility of summer school, so that children can benefit from educational activity year-round. We must do more to improve the quality and accessibility of early childhood education, so that low-income children reach kindergarten more ready to learn. We must do more to improve family literacy and public libraries so that low-income children’s homes and neighborhoods become more conducive to learning. Finally, on top of everything else, summer school serves non-academic purposes as well. It gives children a safe, productive alternative to streets. A gang counselor said recently that summer’s cuts are going to make recruiting easier for gangs because thousands of children have no place to go when the school-year ends.” Senator Chris Dodd (2006 p. 1).