Closing the Summer Learning Gap: Impact on Educational Equity

1. Nellie Mae Education Foundation Beth M. Miller, Ph.D., MMRA June 20, 2007

2. The Learning Season • Summer learning loss drives the test-score gap between children from low income families and their peers • Summer opportunities can make a real difference in children’s learning • If we care about educational equity, we need to take summer opportunities seriously

3. The Test Score Achievement Gap:Beginning School Study VERBAL CAT BY SEASON AND SES (Alexander, Entwisle, and Olson)

4. The Test Score Achievement Gap:Beginning School Study VERBAL CAT BY SEASON AND SES (Alexander, Entwisle, and Olson)

5. The Learning Season:Baltimore Beginning School Study Followed from school entry to age 22 • 1/3 of differences in 9th grade Reading Comprehension scores attributable to preschool differences, 2/3 to summer learning differences • Differences have major impact (separate from income, race, etc) on: • High school placement (academic or non-academic track) • Dropping out • Attending 4-year college

6. Why seasonal learning loss?The Resource Faucet Theory adapted from Entwisle, Alexander, and Olson, 1997

7. The Learning Season:What does the research say? Downey and colleagues • Learning gap for poor children grows much faster in summer (K-1) • Many schools are mis-categorized by annual testing regimens • Schools less successful for African American students

8. The Learning Season:What does the research say? Cooper and colleagues • Review of 39 studies, meta-analysis of 13 • All students lose skills in math (2.6 m) • Low income students lose skills in reading, while middle income gain (lose 1.5 m compared to gain of 2.3 m)

9. The Learning Season:Summer vs. school year differences Non-school environ-ment School environ-ment Adapted from Downey, 2004

10. The Learning Season:Brain Development • All domains linked • Summer learning = integrated learning • Neural connections made through “hands-on experience” • Brain needs time to reflect and “soak in” new information • Background knowledge is key to learning

11. Income Gap in Summer Program Participation

12. CRITICAL HOURS • Summer reading interventions • Summer school, extended school year • Summer camp • Hybrid academic enrichment-youth development programs

13. Research on “Hybrid” Summer Programs Teach Baltimore • Serves over 2,000 youth using trained college students in 7 week program • Combines literacy with wide enrichment focus • Random assignment of children on waiting list to summer program or “control” group • Strong effects on test scores for children who attended for 3 years

14. Research on “Hybrid” Summer Programs BELL Summer Program • Random assignment study • Children who attended BELL summer program gained additional 1 month of reading skills (instead of losing 3) • Parents encouraged children to read more

15. The Learning Season:Recommendations • Increase ACCESS and EFFECTIVENESS • Rethink educational ACCOUNTABILITY • RESEARCH the best ways to solve the “opportunity gap”

16. Nellie Mae Education Foundation Beth M. Miller, Ph.D., MMRA June 20, 2007