On HuffPo This Week: How Local Communities Can Avoid the Summer Slide

During the summer break from school, most students lose about a month of learning. For children from low-income families, this loss of learning can be even greater. The summer slide means teachers spend valuable time in the fall reviewing what students should have learned the previous year, instead of jumping right in to new content.

Not too long ago, there were many free or low-cost summer learning options to help parents engage their children in art, history, science and literature. But because of budget crunches across communities, these options are beginning to disappear, with libraries and parks cutting hours and more museums charging prohibitive fees.

Earlier this week I wrote a piece for the Huffington Post offering some suggestions for how local communities can reduce the summer learning slide by continuing to offer free, low-cost or sliding-scale summer learning options.

Thinking Outside the Sandbox on Avoiding the Summer Slide (Huffington Post, August 1, 2011)

I welcome your comments and ideas on how communities are keeping free or low-cost options available.

For Early Ed Watch’s past coverage on summer learning see the posts in the suggested reading box below: