What is the summer slide? Also called the “summer slump” or “summer brain-drain,” it describes kids’ loss of academic skills and learned information, especially in reading and math, over the summer break. We’ve all seen the headlines: Kids lose months of learning over summer break! Prevent learning loss! But is that the full story? And is “loss’” really the right word for what happens when kids get a break from school?
Summer is a great (and necessary) time to rest, recharge, and reset for the next school year, for students, teachers, and families alike. However, it can be another time where parents may feel pressure to “keep up.” Let’s take a breath. The summer slide is a real phenomenon. It can affect not only a child’s academic progress in the following grade but can also have a cumulative effect with potentially long-term consequences. But it doesn’t have to be a reason to panic. And the way we talk about it may matter more than the slide itself.
The Real Impact of the Summer Slide
The concern about the summer slide isn’t new. In fact, educators have been noticing this phenomenon for decades. Some studies suggest learning loss can be problematic. For example, a 1996 study with the Review of Educational Research found that students lose about one month of learning during the summer on average. The greatest areas of learning losses are in math and reading¹. More recent research by the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) shows that students may lose 20-30% of their school year learning in these subjects². Another recent study confirms these findings. It also discloses that 52% of students lost progress in reading across five consecutive summer breaks³. However, the research is mixed and evolving. Other studies have shown that not all children experience the slide, some children may actually gain skills over the summer, and for many children the loss is temporary and recoverable once school resumes.
What we know for sure is this: certain groups of students—especially those in early elementary grades and students with less access to summer enrichment—are more likely to experience setbacks. But this isn’t about parents failing to “assign enough summer homework.” It’s about broader systems and resources. For example, access to travel, summer camps, books, museums, structured learning, and educational enrichment activities throughout the summer help prevent the summer slide. But students who come from lower-income households may have limited access to these learning opportunities.
A Kinder Way to Think About Summer
School learning isn’t the only kind of learning. In fact, summer opens doors to the kinds of growth that often don’t show up on tests:
- Kids expand vocabulary through conversations, nature walks, and stories at bedtime.
- Kids build independence and problem-solving skills at camp, in the backyard, or at Grandma’s.
- They develop emotional intelligence through friendships, downtime, and play.
When your child invents a new game, explores a creek, or asks “why” for the hundredth time—they’re learning. Just not in a way that’s measured by tests.
Need Inspiration? Tips to Prevent the Summer Slide
Wondering how to support your child’s academic growth this summer without creating a second job for yourself? You’re not alone. Here’s what research suggests:
Read!
Students of all ages should read daily, including through the summer. This can include being read to, independent reading, and reading aloud to a sibling, cousin, or friend. Chapter books, comics, graphic novels, nonfiction articles and more all help keep up with vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency. There are plenty of summer books for kids. Children should choose books that interest them, and trips to the library can become a regular summer activity. Setting a family reading time, where kids and grownups all read independently or choose a book to read together, is another great way to engage the whole family!
Play games!
Eye Spy can be played to find items that start or end with a designated sound or rhyming words in the house or around the neighborhood. Letter hunts can engage kids on long car rides or inside on a rainy day.
Write with purpose!
Kids can write letters and sight words using fun materials, such as sand, foam, paint, rice, shaving cream, or chalk. Writing letters to family and friends who live in other places, or making signs for lemonade stands or a pretend grocery store are contextual ways to engage in writing.
Use math IRL!
Math can be incorporated in the kitchen (counting and measuring ingredients), while shopping (calculating costs and change), or during travel (estimating distances or time.) Children can practice their math-fact fluency by using flash cards to play card games such as Go Fish, War, or a memory game. They can also practice early numeracy by skip-counting during games of hopscotch, climbing on the monkey bars, or walking up stairs.
Use the community around you!
Summer camps are great, but summertime can be a field trip everyday if you let it. Explore neighborhood parks with curiosity. You can also visit museums, zoos, and aquariums. Talk about the world around you in whatever way best suits your child.
Be wise about screentime.
When children have their tablet time, you should try to monitor their passive engagement and opt instead for educational apps, videos, and games to engage the growing minds and keep learning alive!
Slide into Summer, Confidently
Summer is essential to give kids time to rest, explore, have fun, build connections, and be kids. But none of this means learning stops. Kids are naturally wired to learn, and they’ll do it in different ways when given the time and space. Summer is short, but childhood can feel shorter. If your child ends this summer feeling loved, confident, and curious—you’ve done more than enough.
- Cooper, H., Nye, B., Charlton, K., Lindsay, J., & Greathouse, S. (1996). The effects of summer vacation on achievement test scores: A narrative and meta-analytic review. Review of Educational Research, 66(3), 227–268. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543066003227
- Kuhfeld, M., & Tarasawa, B. (2020). The COVID-19 slide: What summer learning loss can tell us about the potential impact of school closures on student academic achievement. NWEA. https://www.nwea.org/research/publication/the-covid-19-slide-what-summer-learning-loss-can-tell-us/
- Atteberry, Allison, and Andrew McEachin. (2019). School’s Out: The Role of Summers in Understanding Achievement Disparities. (EdWorkingPaper: 19-82). Retrieved from Annenberg Institute at Brown University: https://doi.org/10.26300/2mam-bp02
