Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, schools are required to provide a free appropriate public education to students with disabilities and show that the students are making academic progress. This study compares within- and across-years academic growth from kindergarten to 4th grade for students who were ever in special education…

The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) partnered with 15 elementary schools to obtain and analyze student-level daily attendance records for 6,390 students. Schools ranged in size from just over 100 students to more than 600 students. Geographic locations also varied with 4 schools located in a city, 4 in a suburb, 4 in a town, and 3 in a rural…

Growing evidence suggests that contrary to popular belief, schools mostly do not generate achievement gaps in cognitive skills but, rather, reflect the inequalities that already exist. In the case of socioeconomic status, exposure to school often reduces gaps. Surprisingly little is known, however, about whether this pattern extends to gender gaps…

What causes the literacy gap and can schools compensate for it? The authors investigated 3 drivers of the gap: preliteracy knowledge, schooling, and the summer vacation. Longitudinal literacy data over 5 time points were collected on 126 five-year-olds attending higher or lower socioeconomic status (SES) schools during their first 15 months of…

School administrators across the nation are actively searching for solutions to increase student achievement due in part to the significant amount of knowledge that is lost annually each summer. Mathematical computation skills are especially at-risk. This quantitative research study was designed to investigate the impact of summer recess also…

This study addressed the role of reading motivation as a potential determinant of losses or gains in reading competence over six weeks of summer vacation (SV). Based on a sample of 223 third-grade elementary students, structural equation analyses showed that intrinsic reading motivation before SV contributed positively to both word and sentence…

Background: Evidence suggests that children gain more weight during the summer months compared with the school year. To examine the impact of the school and summer environment on children's weight further, we conducted a 5-year longitudinal study examining changes in standardized BMI (zBMI) of students entering kindergarten. Methods: Heights and…

The school in which this research project took place, Papatoetoe Central, was concerned about research evidence that indicated students' reading achievement dropped after long summer breaks. This drop in achievement, known as "the summer effect", has been reported in schools in New Zealand and internationally (Alexander, Entwisle, &…

Although the research literature regarding language growth trajectories is burgeoning, the shape and direction of English Language Learners' (ELLs) language growth trajectories are largely not known. This study used growth curve modeling to determine the shape of ELLs' language growth trajectories across 12,248 oral narrative language samples…

Concerned parents and educators agree children learn best when the rhythm of instruction is continuous with practice and application of skills. Long summer breaks may interrupt the flow of formal school learning leading some students to forget previous instruction. A review of the previous school work is generally required in the fall upon return…

A review of 39 studies indicates that achievement-test scores decline over summer vacation. Meta-analysis results from combining the 13 most recent studies indicate that the summer loss equals about one month on a grade-level equivalent scale. Discusses implications for school calendar changes. Contains 68 references. (SLD)

Discusses parent/school cooperation in keeping students from falling behind while on a family trip. The teacher crafts various generic assignments that students can complete while vacationing, explains the projects to the parents (noting any needed materials) before their vacation, then has the student present the assignment to the class upon…

Elementary school students (N=75) with mild disabilities were monitored in reading and math before and after summer vacation and six weeks into the following school year using Curriculum-Based Measurement Probes. Results indicated significant regression following break. By recoupment measurement, students had regained proficiency and performed…

A study investigated changes in children's physical fitness during summer vacation. Children's cardiorespiratory fitness decreased, as did their body weight, especially for boys. Fall curriculum offerings should be designed to accommodate detrained students. (PP)

Using four large existing databases on student performance in the elementary grades, this study involves a task-by-task, year-by-year cross-sectional analysis of six topics in computation. Information about what students eventually learn and when they learn it is provided by the data analysis; information about when skills are introduced and…