Giving Compass' Take:

• The authors suggest strategies for how teachers can stay engaged with their students over the summer break so that they will be ready to learn and in the right mindset when they return to school.

• Are there other innovative strategies for students and teachers to interact during summer, but still let kids have the break from school they might need?

• Learn about other innovative ways to engage students while in the classroom.

For most stakeholders involved in the day-to-day of school operations, the tradition of summer break represents a time to pause, to recharge–a reprieve from the intensity of the school year.

The leitmotif of these common conceptions of summer is one of a break, pause, and respite. This sentiment lacks a sense of opportunity or expectation for student development and growth. This stasis is borne out in the academic research about student learning in the summer. You are likely familiar with the dreaded “summer slide,” where the break in structure and continuity from the lessons and routines of the classroom cause a regression in student skills measured in schools.

And, as noted by the National Summer Learning Association, this decline in academic performance is exacerbated for students in high-poverty environments. Teachers often end the school year with efforts to provide learning resources for summer use. These well-intentioned actions aim to give families vetted activities to prevent that summer learning drift. All too often, though, those resources go unused or ignored until the last few days of summer.

By reframing the potential of summer, from “ten weeks of academic wilderness between school years” to “the start of the next learning opportunity,” summer has the possibility to serve as a smooth, engaging, and uninterrupted continuation from one school year to the next. It can even be a catalyst to propel students on a path of growing and learning. This can be accomplished with small shifts in how teachers and schools communicate to families at the end of the school year. These shifts will provide guidance for families on how students can find greater success through meaningful learning experiences during the summer.

Read the full article about engaging students during the summer by Kristen Thorson and Erin Gohl at Getting Smart