Each fall, students return to their schools fresh off summer experiences and ready to learn. Teachers welcome the opportunity to build on the previous year’s achievements. However, research shows that students show up in the fall behind where they left in off in June. With the current challenges facing students and schools, this will likely be amplified this year. These losses tend to be especially pronounced in math and in the upper grades.
Academic Approach is focused on how to keep our students academically prepared—both in maintaining knowledge for the fall and in building core academic skills necessary to keep them on track in high school and college. To address the rising concern of families and educators seeking to support their students academically, we have created new math enrichment packages and are offering our individual sessions of one-on-one tutoring at 25% off while schools remain closed.
Current concerns and the challenge ahead
Over an average summer, students lose as much as 25% of the previous school year’s learning. New research suggests this effect will likely be amplified this year, with students arriving in the fall with only 70% of their typical reading gains and less than 50% of their typical math learning gains. Students will leave this school year with a vastly different educational experience than they have in the past—and teachers are already concerned about how to address those learning gaps in the fall, when they will inherit a cohort of students who, in many ways, have not fully completed the grade before.
What can families do?
Analysis has shown that reading and math programming over the summer raised test scores and reduced the learning loss students experienced. This research showed that programs were most effective when incorporating high-quality instructional strategies, when students spent more time on task, and when students were engaged consistently throughout the summer. This can be our roadmap: with excellent instruction and engagement, students can stay academically on track even while out of school.
What high-quality instructional moves can families make at home? The first is to identify the gaps: what were the skills and learning your student had not yet mastered this year that may be important in the future? By both assessing their progress so far and looking ahead to what they did not get to learn, you can develop a comprehensive assessment of what work is needed in the months ahead.
How is Academic Approach addressing the challenge?
We’re focused on how to keep our students academically prepared for the fall with the core academic skills necessary to keep them on track in high school and college. Our instructors are delivering engaging, personalized content to ensure that students won’t return to classrooms unprepared for the next year’s work, especially core math skills. We’re using our expertise in college readiness and skills-based teaching to support student academic progress and success in these challenging times.
Learn more about our math enrichment and skills-based test preparation offerings on our website.
