A series to explore summer learning loss
By Dorian Geiger on Jun 27, 2014 01:46 PM
Too much downtime this summer could prove to be a major detriment to Philadelphia's students when they return to classes in fall.
The phenomenon of summer learning loss, often nicknamed "summer slide," is a nationwide dilemma that affects children, especially from kindergarten to 4th grade. They lose reading and math skills they learned during the school year over summer months and in the fall, they return to their studies having fallen behind.
Not having a coordinated effort to address this -- and so not having children reach their full potential, "of course it affects that child the most, it affects that family the most," said Vicki Ellis, the School District's liaison with the city.
But eventually, she added, "It affects our entire city, the workforce, and our neighborhoods."
This summer, the District, city agencies and community organizations are launching a coordinated series of programs, through the Campaign for Grade Level Reading, with the goal of attacking summer learning loss head on.
For instance, 21 of the city's Department of Recreation summer camps will incorporate more structured literacy and math activities into their daily program, said Hedra Packman, the former Deputy Director of the Free Library who is serving as a consultant for the initiative. The library has been training the campa counselors.
In addition, other programs that already had a literacy component "are now being A series to explore summer learning loss | Philadelphia Public School Notebook: