I'm genuinely curious why reading seems to get nearly all of the attention among those concerned about summer learning loss. Yes, the losses in reading achievement are staggering, particularly among low-income students, but equally alarming are the statistics about how much all kids - regardless of income -- stand to lose in math achievement when they don't practice those skills over the summer.
All kids are at risk of losing over two months of math performance during the elementary school years. This compromises our ability to teach math effectively right now, and jeopardizes our nation's long-term capacity to drive innovation, create jobs, and compete globally in fields like engineering, finance, medicine, technology where strong math skills are essential.
Think about it. How many organizations, campaigns, or programs in your community are dedicated to summer reading? We have the public libraries, large corporations, professional sports teams, and even local Chambers of Commerce promoting summer reading. Who's tackling the issue of summer math? Why aren't people willing to be champions for summer math the way libraries support reading during the summer break?
If you do a Google search using the following terms, here's what you get:
"summer reading programs for kids 2011" = 154 million hits
"summer math programs for kids 2011" = 21 million hits
Admittedly, that's a crude measurement, but I suspect it's true that summer reading programs are at least 7 times more prevalent than summer math programs. Even as parents, we find it much easier to ensure that our kids read than to ensure that they practice math over the summer. I wrote about my own struggle to find something for our kids in an earlier post.
I did check the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics website and found some great resources for teachers and parents to use, but this nowhere near enough to address this problem.
We need high profile advocates for STEM learning in the United States to take on the cause of summer math -- explicitly and on a large scale.
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Zein Odeh: School's Out: One Teacher's Take on What to Do With Kids
We notice that many of our colleagues at the primary level no longer teach the times tables anymore, which makes calculating fractions nearly impossible, which makes the abstract thought required in algebra suddenly two calculations that a struggling student can't do and so on.
I disagree with the notion that we need to send our kids off to some math camp. Not need. But, valuing the foundation of the concrete computations is critical.
Poor basic math skills translate into poor reading skills. Believe it or not, we're working the same parts of the brain. Algebra and metaphor are abstract thought. Geometry is logic. And so on.
Culturally, we've gotten into this compartmentalizing thing far too much. Every individual subject taught in school is connected to the other but we treat them like they are unrelated. Wrong-headed thinking.
The better question is, why do we still have a summer vacation for students if it is detrimental to their success? The true origins of the current school calendar seem lost. I have read many different explanations. The most reasonable ones seem to revolve around economics and summer building conditions. Whatever the case, those are now moot points. If students are suffering, we should move to end it. School should be a year-round effort. Students should be allowed to opt out of school to attend alternative programs, like summer camps. But, the whole system should be revamped.
As for vacations, they should be handled like vacations for anyone with a job. You simply let them know when you are going, and accommodations are made. If we do this, we no longer have to worry about our children falling behind. Now, it does create other challenges, but those can be solved.
The students process more than we think while on break. They mature. They change. In my 11 years of teaching I've observed this too much to believe otherwise. Besides, they need the time and freedom to be kids. If they don't do so well academically, we have summer schools available, but they still need to be kids, or they end up resenting learning and they self-destruct. Seen that a time or six too.
As a teacher, at this point in the year, I am so mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually exhausted that it will take at least a month to recharge. Then, I am doing some kind of continuing ed. course to improve my game so that I can be more effective for the next crop. Teaching anymore is far more than the three R's. It takes it all out of us.
There also does seem to be any research to support that students need the break. If they did need the break, we would simply accept that the decline in reading, math, and other academic skills was an essential part of the cycle. It isn't.
There is also no mandate that if the school calendar changed to year-round that we couldn't and shouldn't fundamentally alter the schedule. Perhaps in the summer, there would be more play (lower obesity anyone?) and just short periods of reading and math. Perhaps we could add arts and crafts into the mix.
As for the teachers, there is also no mandate that you could or should maintain the same schedule. There are substitutes. There are ways (I mentioned summer class schedule) to actually allow the academic teachers to have the time to recharge and develop professionally.
I think it is just Tradition, and we don't want to challenge it. Perhaps it is time to change that.
I enrolled his just turning 14 year old sister in a on-line / self study math course. She will be spending ~6 hours a day for 9 weeks doing an honors pre-calculus course. The school won't give her credit for it, but they will give her placement, so next year she will take calculus. She clearly won't be loosing any ground either. She is a dedicated reader as well.
My wife couldn't support them in this, as her background and competence is most definitely not math. But I can do it, so I will.
What do you have to do, to earn your TV time?
I should have mentioned, we don't get standard cable or broadcast, we only get a few European channels. So TV / Movies are Netflix or DVD's from the public library.
Oh, I will take them canoeing and camping in the North Cascades. And I will take my daughter hiking and to some degree, mountain hiking.
I will also run them both through rifle safety and marksman training and introduction to skeet shooting.
Then there is the twice a week library run and a number of trips to the community swimming pool - my son likes swimming. I will take my daughter ice skating, as she likes that.
Overall, they will enjoy their summer and they will end the summer knowing more than when they entered it.