Teacher: What’s missing from calls for summer school to stem ‘learning loss’ - The Washington Post

Teacher: What’s missing from calls for summer school to stem ‘learning loss’ - The Washington Post

Teacher: What’s missing from calls for summer school to stem ‘learning loss’

School districts concerned about how much learning students have missed since the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States last spring are considering how to get kids back on academic track, with options including summer school, year-round learning, grade retention and targeted tutoring.

No option is ideal (and some, like grade retention, have no basis on research as being effective) — and, of course, there are big questions about whether Congress will pitch in to provide the significant financial resources necessary to implement them. Though President Biden has proposed legislation with funding, there is no guarantee the Senate will go along — even with Democrats in control.

At the moment, the option being raised more often than others seems to be some form of summer school, with several governors, including those of Virginia and California, raising the issue. University of Virginia cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham wrote a piece in the New York Daily News about why he thinks it is the best option.

This post about summer school and how to address the issue of lost student learning is from an admittedly exhausted veteran teacher, Larry Ferlazzo, who has some ideas about the current debate and what is missing from the conversation.

Ferlazzo teaches English and social studies at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento. He has written or edited a dozen books on education, writes a teacher advice blog for Education Week Teacher and has a popular resource-sharing blog.

By Larry Ferlazzo

Many people I respect, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and University of Virginia cognitive psychologist Daniel Willingham, are pushing a strategy of expanded summer school for students to compensate for what some characterize as “learning loss.”

I am not opposed to going down this road, but it is important to note right now that several key issues CONTINUE READING: Teacher: What’s missing from calls for summer school to stem ‘learning loss’ - The Washington Post

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