“In webinars and Zoom panels about the pandemic’s toll on learning, education experts talk about the need for summer remediation to shore up academic skills compromised by school closings and remote classes.
Yet, many parents are having a different conversation, saying both they and their children are exhausted after a school year like no other. They want their kids sprung from screens, workbooks and math problems so they can visit grandparents, splash in neighborhood pools and ride their bikes.”
While summer learning loss is a real fear, there seems to be near-unanimity amongst parents around the need for kids to have a real break this summer, especially after an unprecedented and exhausting school year; however, experts worry about widening learning gaps. Read what the experts are saying, from calls for fun summer learning through experiences (not summer school), to more long-term, systemic changes, in this article from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Summer school could provide an opportunity to mitigate some of the learning loss, with the emphasis on some,” said Ed Chang, executive director of the nonprofit reform group RedefinED Atlanta. “There are probably gaps in learning that have widened during the pandemic, but the reality is these gaps were there before the pandemic. It is going to take years to address, and summer school is only one piece of the pie.”