HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — The start of the school year is less than a month away for most Tampa Bay students.
“There is a learning loss that occurs during the summer,” said Rob Kriete, educator and president of the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association.
Summer learning loss, also known as summer slide, is when students return to school at a lower grade level because they don’t actively engage in education activities during the break.
Studies have shown that over the summer, students can lose up to 40% of what they’ve learned the previous school year.
“Part of the summer slide sometimes is because kids just forget some of the foundational skills that they learn,” said Tracie Bergman, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction for Hillsborough County Public Schools.
Officials believe it’s gotten worse since the pandemic and is a problem they’re still dealing with.
“In a perfect world, we’d have kids reading and writing all summer long,” said Kriete.
Educators know that’s not likely, but doing small things can help students in a big way come August, and it’s not too late to start.
One simple thing families can start incorporating is having more intentional conversations to improve language and communication skills.
“Sometimes we forget just the power of talk and what that brings, especially for our younger students,” said Bergman.
Teachers also recommend different activities, such as journaling, drawing, playing educational games, and, most importantly, reading.
“Reading is obviously fundamental and is the building block for everything,” said Kriete.
Even just reading two books before the start of the school year will help minimize summer slide for all grade levels.
This is the purpose behind the Hillsborough County School District’s "Just 2 Books" summer reading campaign.
“It could be books through the library, books you have at home, books borrowed from siblings,” said Bergman.
“Teaching kids how to read is one of the number one things that projects success by the time the child is in third grade. So if you have a kindergartener out there, a pre-k student, or a first grader out there, that reading is going to create the success; it’s going to have years and years of that impact where the kids won’t struggle as much because they’ve been engaged in it," she added.
Educators suggest making reading a family activity and designating a specific time every day to get it done.
“We need to rely on our families to help support the education at home by finding and carving out that quiet time to get some of these activities done,” said Kriete.
“And being a model for your kids, too, right? You don’t have to read a book, but maybe you’re reading a paper, you’re doing an audiobook, whatever it might be, just kind of being that model and being there for the kids so that they see how important it is in daily life,” said Bergman.
