Journal article
Rethinking summer slide: The more you gain, the more you lose
2019
Abstract
It has been common knowledge for decades that poor and working-class students tend to experience “summer learning loss,” a drop in performance between spring and fall that serves to widen the gap between students. However, new research shows that the reality of summer learning loss is more complex. Megan Kuhfeld draws on data from the 3.4 million students who took the NWEA MAP Growth assessments to find that summer slide is common, but not inevitable. According to the data, the students who experienced the greatest loss were those who made the greatest gains during the previous school year. The research also calls into question about the usual explanations for learning loss, such as access to summer programs and length of the school year.
See MoreThis article was published outside of NWEA. The full text can be found at the link above.
Associated Research
Related Topics
The purpose of this technical appendix is to share more detailed results and describe the sample and methods used in the research in Progress towards pandemic recovery: Continued signs of rebounding achievement at the start of the 2022-23 school year.
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Equity
New research provides evidence that student reading and math achievement at the start of the 2022–23 school year is continuing to rebound from the impacts of the pandemic, though full recovery is likely still several years away.
Topics: Equity, COVID-19 & schools
Technical appendix for: The widening achievement divide during COVID-19
The purpose of this technical appendix is to share more detailed results and to describe more fully the sample and methods used in the research included in the brief, The widening achievement divide during COVID-19.
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Equity
The widening achievement divide during COVID-19
New research provides additional evidence of the uneven impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic showing that students’ math and reading test scores are more variable in spring 2022 than before the pandemic in part because the divide between high and low achievers has widened.
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Equity
COVID-19 in the early elementary years: A comparison of achievement in spring 2019 and spring 2022
New NWEA research provides further evidence of the challenges that young learners are currently facing from the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Early learning, Equity
Longitudinal models of reading and mathematics achievement in deaf and hard of hearing students
New research using longitudinal data provides evidence that deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students continue to build skills in math and reading throughout grades 2 to 8, challenging assumptions that DHH students’ skills plataeu in elementary grades.
Topics: Equity, Measurement & scaling
Technical appendix for: Student achievement in 2021-22: Cause for hope and continued urgency
The purpose of this technical appendix is to share more detailed results and describe the sample and methods used in the research included in Student achievement in 2021-22: Cause for hope and continued urgency.
Topics: COVID-19 & schools, Equity
