Summer Reviews

Joyce Garland

What do your students do over the summer? Well, besides gaining valuable experiences from vacations, sports, family outings, and so on, they probably lose a few things, specifically academic skills. Research has shown that students typically lose about four to six weeks of academic skills during the summer months. The loss is particularly pronounced for skills that require memory and practice, such as math facts and word skills. As a result, each year teachers are forced to spend the first weeks of school reviewing material from the previous grade. Though necessary, such review fails to recapture the students’ minds from the summer break and move them forward in their academic progress. Instead, students start the year with the just complaint that "We’re just doing the same stuff we did last year." Even most textbooks are designed to spend the first few chapters reviewing rather than introducing new concepts. The loss of instructional time for new material is significant. Over the course of elementary school, a child loses from one-half to a full year of new concepts because of the need of such extensive review each year. The loss of motivation may be equally significant.

What can be done to offset this loss? Summer school is one option. Certainly students who go to summer school are likely to retain more skills than those who do not. But summer school is often un-available, expensive, or both. Additionally, summer school is usually considered a remedial resource and fails to address the need for all students to have some review.

Sometimes parents provide worksheets for their children during the summer months. These students probably lose fewer skills, but the method of review may be dull and boring, and children often balk at having "more school." Their interest level is low, and interest is a key factor in long-term retention of material.

What is the best way to keep up academic skills? Research indicates that spaced practice is by far the best method of retaining material in long-term memory. It has consistently shown its value with various groups and subject matter. A shorter learning session with spaced time between is more effective than lengthier sessions.

Much research has been done on spaced practice and why it is effective. The overall conclusion is that when the brain has to work to retrieve material, it is far more likely to remember that information. Additionally, the more interesting the material and the presentation, the more likely it is to be remembered. Any teacher or parent recognizes that students will learn and remember best what interests them most.

How can we use the knowledge that spaced practice is the most effective means of retaining academic skills to help students? The obvious answer is that students need some review throughout the summer months. The not-so-obvious answer is that review of a specific skill does not need to be daily or lengthy to be effective. A review program that offers great variety while focusing on key concepts probably is the best method of review.

This knowledge has not been lost on the marketplace. In recent years many publishers have produced summer review books. However, all books are not created equal. Certain features will aid in the effectiveness of the program. First, the books should cover key concepts from the completed grade. Put yourself in the place of the teacher who is getting the upcoming student. What concepts are essential for the student to know in order for him to quickly move on in your class? Those are the concepts that should be evident in the review book. Most review books are not designed to reteach but to refresh skills that a student should already know. The books have minimal instructional information, so they are limited in their usefulness in helping a child who is having difficulty. A parent could use such a book to determine where there are gaps of knowledge and then pursue a more aggressive remedial program. But for most students the purpose is simply to keep key concepts fresh in their minds.

Another feature to consider is whether the book is appealing and interesting. The best review in the world will accomplish little if the student dreads it. Interest is a strong motivating factor that should never be discounted, especially with upper-level students. It is just as easy to review punctuation with fascinating facts as random sentences. A thematic approach offers a package that has continuity and interest.

Whether or not the book implements spaced practice should be a big consideration. How long will it take a typical student to complete the activities for any given day? Variations of key concepts should recur during the course of the program. The book needs to take a good portion of the summer vacation to complete by doing a few pages each day. Though some students will want to do multiple pages at a sitting, this is not the most effective use of a program. Review should be kept short and frequent. A student who understands a concept does not need extensive practice. He merely needs a little push to keep the concepts fresh. More is not necessarily better.

Encourage your parents to consider a summer-review book. Then their children can have a summer with much gain and no loss.

Reprinted from Teacher to Teacher, Volume 5, Issue 2.

Used with permission from BJU Press. For permission to reproduce this article, please write BJU Press.