WHAT ARE THE POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF SUMMER SCHOOL?

Although summer school is hardly a panacea for overcoming challenges such as the achievement gap, research shows that it can boost student learning in specific areas. For students who need more time to meet learning goals—whether because of class time lost due to illness or family mobility, issues related to learning English as a second language, or individual learning style—summer offers the benefit of a longer calendar. For gifted students or those with a keen interest in a particular subject, summer offers the chance to explore a subject in more depth than the regular school year may allow.

The climate of summer school also seems to have an effect on student learning. Compared to the traditional school year, summer programs often feature smaller classes, more individualized instruction, and a more relaxed learning atmosphere. The experience of success during a summer session can boost students' confidence as learners for the long term.

Among key findings of recent research on summer school:

• Programs that focus on lessening or removing learning deficiencies have a positive effect on the knowledge and skills of students
• Programs that focus on accelerating learning have a positive effect on students
• Programs that provide small-group or individualized instruction produce the largest impact on student learning
• Programs that require some form of parent involvement produce larger effects than programs without this component (Cooper et al., 2000; Cooper, 2001)

In particular, research suggests that programs designed for the earliest grades and for students from less-advantaged families promise to help close the achievement gap (Borman, 2000; Cooper, 2001; Entwisle, Alexander, & Olson, 2001). Geoffrey Borman, commenting on the meta-analysis of Cooper and associates, suggests:

Summer school may be the primary intervention through which educators prevent the cumulative widening of the reading achievement gap (Borman, 2000, p. 24).

Research about the summer slide shows that all students, regardless of resources at home, tend to lose math skills during the summer; in reading skills, disadvantaged children tend to experience summer losses while middle class students show achievement gains (Cooper et al., 1996). This leads Cooper to conclude: For all students, a primary focus on mathematics instruction in the summer would seem to be needed the most. If programs had the explicit purpose of lessening inequities across income groups, then a focus on summer reading instruction for disadvantaged students would be most beneficial (Cooper, 2001, p. 3).

Some researchers suggest targeting summer instruction to the early primary grades, and designing programs especially for students from low-income backgrounds (Entwisle, Alexander, & Olson, 2001). Indeed, in analyzing research on the summer slide, Borman suggests that if the goal of summer school is to prevent seasonal learning losses, "it makes little sense to begin mandating summer school only after students have fallen behind in their regular school year work" (Borman, 2000, p. 125).

In particular, Chicago's Summer Bridge program has shown promise as a "second chance" for students who have failed to pass a state-mandated assessment test for grade promotion. Research shows that participation in the summer program, which is tied closely to the regular school year curriculum, provides students with at least a short-term gain in standardized test scores (Roderick, Bryk, Jacob, Easton, & Allensworth, 1999).