Giving Compass' Take:
- Josh Gresham discusses the importance of summer learning, especially when it comes to retaining math knowledge for students entering high school.
- Education initiatives would be wise to listen to the observations such as this: Is money being spent to help kids during July and August? The author also lists several ed tech tools that may be useful in this area, so that skills can be honed outside the classroom.
- We should not forget about the role gender equity should play when it comes to STEM education. Here's one article about how female students can be empowered to love math.
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For an eighth-grade math teacher like me, the arrival of spring means I’ve almost finished teaching the concepts my students need to succeed in high school.
It also means it’s time to gear up for the next challenge: helping students to retain their math knowledge over the summer.
Research shows that students across all socioeconomic backgrounds experience nearly three months of learning loss in math over the summer.
Summer learning loss is not just about students losing content knowledge. As the teacher for the next school year, the level of loss determines how much review time needs to be built into the schedule.
Time spent on review is valuable, but ultimately takes focus away from grade-level content, which can hinder students’ chances of growth over the year.
My students are nearly all students of color, with 90 percent classified as high needs, 35 percent of students classified as special education students, and 19 percent English Language Learners. The stakes for these students are especially high when it comes to the summer slide.
Through EdVestors’ Zeroing in on Math initiative, our students had access to a digital tool, TenMarks Math, for the year. We wanted to take advantage of the two months when those licenses usually remain dormant for students — in July and August.
Read the full article about the importance of math skills retention by Josh Gresham at The Hechinger Report.