When schools let out for summer
break, usually between mid-May and mid-June,
millions of students will be disengaged from
learning and will experience significant
learning loss. In math, they may lose as many
as three months’ worth of learning, which
means when they come back to school in late
August or early September, they are back to
March in terms of their knowledge base.
Studies suggest students experience the most
learning loss in math, but losses in reading
acumen are also significant – as many as two
months unless students are engaged in
supplemental education. Many are enrolled in
summer school or other programs, but many of
these programs cost, and those from the
lowest-income families don’t have access to
them. In some families, older children are
charged with minding their younger siblings,
preventing them from participating in summer
programs.
The attack on the Department of
Education and this president’s indifference to
education affects some of the programs that
the DoE has funded in the past. The so-called
“Big Beautiful” (let’s just call it the Big
Ugly) eliminates afterschool and summer
learning, such as the 21st Century Community Learning
Centers, which serves 1.4 million children.
Black students are especially vulnerable to
learning loss. They have less access to summer
enrichment programs because of cost,
transportation issues, and availability.
According to the Afterschool Alliance, 2.3
million Black students would have enrolled in
a summer program in 2019, if one were
available. That’s pre-covid data. The need is
likely much greater now.
Parents can’t depend on
government to prevent learning loss. While one
in seven students participated in summer
enrichment programs last year 2024) there is
significant unmet need. Bloomberg
Philanthropies has a Summer Boost program that
funded efforts in Baltimore, Memphis, and
Washington DC, among other cities. Many school
districts will have summer school programs, as
well as recreation centers, and programs
developed by civic organizations. In
Washington, DC the Southeast Tennis and
Learning Center has an absorbing summer
program that includes reading and athletics.
In Indiana, summer learning labs provided
supplemental activities in English and
Language Arts, as well as mathematics. Parents
– talk to a teacher, get on the internet, and
find a program for your child.
There aren’t enough
opportunities for every child who needs one,
but parents can put programs together for
their young ‘uns. Young people should be
exposed to museums, libraries, theater,
concerts and reading opportunities. Can’t
afford it? Why not come together with other
parents to hire a teen or young adult to work
with a group of young people one or two days a
week. And why not, parents, read with your
children, and allow them to read to you. The
learning loss has major equity and civil
rights implications. Learning loss widens the
achievement gap, and affects high school
graduation rates, college attendance rates,
and long-term income and wealth.
Another activity Black parents
should expose their young people to is water
safety. There are reasons why many Black
people don’t swim, many of them historical.
White people closed pools (drained them or
cemented them over) to prevent Black people
from using pools. And some Black women avoided
swimming in deference to their hair. But
Beverly Iseghohi, an Atlanta-based triathlete
and swimming coach, suggest you might prefer
your life to your coif, and is passionate
about getting more Black people to be aware
about water safety and to swim. The data
buttress her concern. Nearly two-thirds of
Black children cannot swim, compared to 40
percent of white children. Black children 5-9
were 2.6 times more likely to drown than white
children. Those 10-14 were 3.6 times more
likely to drown. In pools, Black children were
7.6 times more likely to drown than white
children. And Beverly Iseghohi says there is a
connection between swimming and cognition.
Perhaps swimming can be an antidote to
learning loss.
We must take learning loss
seriously, and the entire community must stand
in the gap when government education programs
drop the ball. Cuts at the Centers for Disease
Control means we will get less data about
swimming and drowning. The Big Ugly Bill means
fewer supplemental education activities will
be funded. But we know how to educate young
people. The Children’s Defense Fund’s Freedom
Schools have operated for decades in
twenty-six states, including Washington, DC.
They are combatting learning loss, and we all
have a responsibility to do the same. Find a
program or start one. Learning loss has
long-term implications for our community.
