6/20/14

By Susan O’Connor, School-age TA SpecialistNational Center on Child Care Professional Development and Workforce, co-funded by the Office of Child Care and the Office of Head Start

Summer can be a time of growth, learning, and fun. Think back to your summer memories. Perhaps you learned to swim or made special friends at camp. Maybe you remember the summer you went on a whale watch and spent days afterward reading all about whales.

Summer is also a time of learning loss. While this happens to all students, children from lower income families are more likely than their higher income peers to lose ground in reading and math over the summer. Did you know that about half of the difference in reading ability in ninth grade between children from low- and high-income families is linked to summer learning loss during elementary school?

Recent studies show that summer learning can lead to gains in school lasting up to two years. For the nearly 650,000 school-age children served monthly by a Child Care and Development Fund subsidy, summer programs play an important role in supporting learning opportunities.As we celebrate National Summer Learning Day, the following tips can help to make sure all children have access to high-quality summer learning programs.

Source: The Family Room Blog, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Available at: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/blog/2014/06/celebrate-summer-learning-day