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Are summer breaks obsolete?
(Guest blog by Elaine Hirsch, a writer for onlineschools.org who frequently writes for other blogs)
Summer break has become such a traditional
part of the annual school calendar that students even sing songs about it.
However, summer break is a tradition that needs to end if schools are serious about increasing student achievement. The factors
that once led schools to implement extended summer breaks no longer exist, and
summer breaks have proven to impede learning and disproportionately harm our
most vulnerable students.
It’s a common misconception that summer breaks originated in America’s agrarian
communities, where farms often depended on the labour of children. In fact,
agrarian schools often had fall breaks, so students could help bring in the
harvest. Summer breaks actually originated in urban schools, where
administrators believed school buildings were too hot and poorly-ventilated to
be attended during the peak summer months. Further, some physicians believed
longer school years would cause mental fatigue and student burnout.
Modern cooling and ventilation systems now make schools comfortable year-round,
and research has shown students have both the physical and psychological
strength to endure longer school years. The traditional motivations for
offering students extended summer breaks no longer make much sense.
In fact, evidence shows summer breaks hinder student achievement, particularly
among at-risk student populations. Studies indicate that over the summer students
regress the equivalent of one month of instruction in math and literacy.
That means on average America’s students begin each school year knowing less
than they did when the previous school year ended. This phenomenon, called
summer loss, is even more pronounced for students who live in poverty.
School districts that have experimented with longer school years have
experienced improvements in student achievement. A study by the National Center
on Time and Learning found school districts with longer
school years and school days witnessed increases in standardized test
scores and graduation rates.
The Knowledge is Power Program charter school network has used extended school years to help students who may be years behind their peers in math, science, and reading, and several California elementary schools with year-round schooling have seen significant increases in reading scores. University of Minnesota researchers analyzed several studies on year-round schooling and found such schedules consistently demonstrated increases in reading and math scores.
The success of year-round schooling has several school districts, particularly districts plagued by low student achievement, seriously considering eliminating summer breaks. Educators are waking up to the concept that summer breaks are an idea from another century, and that they probably should have stayed there.
I kept my kids working all summer on math, spelling, writing, and reading. They also did their swimming in the summer. Mothers would get their kids together in the neighbourhood, and spend a couple of hours in the a.m. doing the rudiments. We lived in a small town, so afterwards, the kids would play in the woods and fields… They’d have great summers.
The problems were always back at school. With no accountability, we as parents never knew what the teachers were doing, as they lacked incentive to get through the curricula—stressful seeing our children waste their time where they were supposed to be learning.
My conclusion is the obvious—summers off wouldn’t be as harmful if children were taught properly.