is summer homework mandatory

It’s Time to End Mandated Summer Assignments

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“Ringggggggg!”

The last bell rang. The halls are silent and students have been dismissed for the school year into the warm summer sun.

It’s time for a well-needed break from structured learning and time to engage in play and curiosity.

For too long schools have tried to control what students are responsible for outside of school doors, whether it is homework or summer assignments. Teachers have been told or have felt that these expectations foster accountability and deeper learning.

And perhaps for some, it does, but for most, it doesn’t.

Just like with homework, summer assignments highlight equity issues that go far beyond students not being capable of doing the learning. Let’s not forget that we don’t want to promote a culture that starts students in a deficit.

After having a rich conversation on social media (Facebook and Twitter) about the need for mandatory summer assignments, there seems to be a consensus that mandatory summer assignments aren’t a thing we should promote. Teachers, administrators, students, and parents shared their concerns and dismay with the practice.

Here are some of their ideas:

Gerald Aungst said, “Love them. In fact, let’s make mandatory play assignments that count upon return to school. A checklist of things students have to do during the summer or else they start off the year in the hole right out of the gate. Things such as wade in a stream, play street stickball and attend a pool party.”

Anastasia Papis said, “when I used to get them it always felt like pressure to do as many as you could and you would feel bad when you didn’t. I am all for reading but I think it would be better for kids to feel encouraged more to want to read on their own instead of being forced during the summer when they also want that time to relax or even work before they have to do it all over again in the next school year.”

Jim Detwiler said, “Big fat NO. So many things wrong with it. Equity and access issues. And don’t even get me started on grading practices. (You may have hit a nerve, can you tell?).”

Tammy Turlington Neil said, “Even if everyone did the work, what about the kid that moves in during the summer and doesn’t know about the assignment. How is that fair? Definitely a big NO.”

Kate LaRoue said, “For AP World History, where you cover 10,000 years of History, it is critical. Most students are capable of reading a few pages, taking some notes on the Neolithic and Paleolithic eras, freeing up class time for the classical period when we start. I am no longer allowed to do this, as our school ended summer assignments. I required it to be turned in two weeks after the start of school, when they could use the notes to write a base line essay. Students did better if they read, but the essay was achievable if they had not. This delay also allowed students registering late to still do the assignment. Now, I have to assign it as homework the first week, along with what I usually do. It puts a larger load on the students since we didn’t get an early start on the curriculum.”

Shoshana Seid said, “Count?! No. Of course, I encourage reading but threatening that it “counts” for something—NO. I feel the same way about HW too.”

Delilah Kellinghaus said, “As a 20-year English teacher I say NO. I have taught mandatory summer reading and the results were never positive. I always found the classroom reading and productive struggle much more beneficial for students.”

Pernille Ripp said, “That we have no right to mandate what kids do over the summer unless they voluntarily signed up for a class that requires it.”

Justin Parmenter said, “If we think teachers need to unplug and practice self-care in the summer in order to be at their best in the fall, then why would the same not be true for students?”

Steven Weber said, “I’m not a fan. Some students move to the school late in the summer. Some schools make Ss pay for the book. Some of the assignments are busy work. Some students start the 1st day of class with a C/D grade.”

Courtney Johnson said, “What? No way. Summer is summer. We get to tell them what to do 9 months out of the year. Let kids (and for the younger ones, their parents) make decisions about what to do during their summer. If they want to read, they will. If they want to read something challenging, they will.”

Michael Horton said, “Most of our high school students take one or two online college courses over the summer (by choice). AP students get prep work. Incoming 6th graders get a reading assignment. The office is open all summer if they need resources. We loan Chromebooks if needed.”

Sarah Nichols said, “Reading is a joy and shouldn’t be required but rather celebrated and encouraged by exposing learners of all ages to books that fit their interests, questions and ability levels.”

Kristen Bruck said, “Seeing the pages-long assignment my 9yo has to do this summer, I totally get when my 10th-grade students come to me hating to read. I am tempted to tell my own kids just not to do their assignments and read what they want!:

What we can do instead is provide resources for students who are interested in pursuing them and encourage them to do things that inspire them in their free time without the consequence of getting a bad grade. There are so many resources available through public libraries and school libraries for families to enjoy. Let’s promote a love of reading, but providing help and not expecting them to be used.

Steven Weber said, “I would support student choice. Students choose from a list of books. Post blog posts throughout the summer.”

Laura Mossa said, “We are hosting an in-school book swap and family book bingo night to make sure all students have books to read over the summer. Our school library will be open for check out this summer and we are using @Flipgrid to share summer reading recommendations.”

Karen Cribby said, “We use #schoology discussion boards for them to share what they’re reading (and we join in). I’m adamant though, that S’ don’t “do” anything other than enjoy what they’re reading.”

Matthew Winters said, “Modeling what summer reading looks like. On our last day I brought in the books I plan to read this summer and told the students about the importance of continuing their reading patterns. It got through to a good percentage.”

Lindsay Hall said, “By talking about books with them all year, by showing them that reading can be fun once you find the right book, and by sending them off with a list of books you think they’ll like #ReadingMatters #SummerReading .”

Jacqui Cebrian said, “I meet with my students and talk about what is in their plan. I try to send home books with them when I can. I’m very fortunate to be in a well-funded district and avail myself of all the cheap books I can find. I don’t treat it as icing. It’s the cake. I have a lot to say on this subject I guess. Summer reading bulletin board by the office...Set up an Instagram account just to post books to and add that to the summer reading recs I put out every year to encourage interaction over the summer and keep ideas flowing. And finally, new this year, I’m joining the superintendent at a farmers market booth this weekend as part of my summer reading outreach. In short ( but not really), I do everything I can think of. Also made summer reading slideshow with some book trailers embedded.”

Gina Hess said, “We have a great list of books chosen by kids and librarians in Florida, @FloridaSSYRA . I always give this list to my students at the end of the school year. My biggest goal is for them to read books that they choose, and this list gives them a good place to start.”

Let’s spend more time in school promoting a culture of curiosity and learning that transcends school, not because we want to grade kids on it or give them extra credit or punish them for not doing it, but because learning for the sake of learning is its own reward. We can foster a love of reading in so many different ways.

The opinions expressed in Work in Progress are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

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Should kids get summer homework?

by: Leslie Crawford | Updated: June 12, 2023

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Jill Notte’s daughter Sara is a straight-A student, and she’s taking five advanced-placement courses this fall. It’ll be her senior year.

This ambitious undertaking may prove Sara’s undoing — at least if the 17 year old wants to enjoy her summer vacation. Somewhere in between spending a week at a Girls State program, a month at the New Jersey Governor’s School of Engineering and Technology at Rutger’s University, and visiting a few potential colleges, Sara must complete the following workload before school starts:

• Read five novels for AP English • Read one book for AP History • Complete a packet of assignments and problems for AP Calculus • Complete a packet of assignments and problems for AP Chemistry • Write several summaries of scientific principles for Honors Physics

Oh, and her English teacher recommends that she attend Shakespeare performances at the local college to supplement the many plays she’s required to read as part of AP English. “I try to put a positive spin on it,” says Sara’s mother, Jill. “I told her, ‘Summertime’s a great time to read Shakespeare!'” But, admits Jill, it’s not so easy to put the same kind of “fun” spin on the stack of mind-numbing calculus and chemistry books hefty enough to take down a Yellowstone grizzly.

Forget languidly balmy weeks unwinding from the stress of an intensive school year. Goodbye, as well, to working her usual summer job as a lifeguard, which Sara unhappily has to forgo — along with the money she hoped to save for college. As her mother puts it, “Summer homework is a full-time job.”

A working vacation

Sara’s not alone. The oxymoronically named “vacation work” is on the rise. Sara’s older sister had only a few books to read over the summer when she was in high school — and that was just eight years ago. Jill, who like her daughters was a high achiever in the top five percent of her class, remembers completely homework-free summers.

Many parents remember their own childhood summers as true respites from school, devoid the rigor and rigidity of academic life. Summer was a sprawling mass of unstructured time that ranged from idyllic laziness to stupefying boredom to invigorating camps and family vacations, not scores of math worksheets, science packets, and lists of “good-for-you” classics that hardly qualify as light beach reads.

Harris Cooper, chairman of the department of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University and America’s leading homework scholar who co-authored the landmark meta-study on homework , says that while there exists no formal studies on the rise in summertime homework, he’s witnessed a particularly sharp increase over the past two years — probably a response “to high-stakes testing and accountability issues for schools.”

Just say no?

Some parents argue summer homework is nothing more than bland busywork that saps the joy and spontaneity from summer. So says Sara Bennett, founder of StopHomework.com . “Even if there is a summer slide, I don’t think homework is the solution,” Bennett says. “Kids don’t have enough downtime during the school year. I think they need that freshness during summer.”

Here’s a revolutionary approach for vacation purists who say kids deserve a good, old-fashioned summer free from intense brain-strain: Just say no. That’s what Bennett suggests a parent do in the fall if a child is averse to doing the packet. “I’d send it back and say, ‘I’m sorry, my child didn’t have a chance to do it.’ ” (A parental dispensation only possible for kids who haven’t entered the high-school pressure cooker where — as with Sara Notte — summer homework is graded and can directly affect a student’s chances to enter a top-tier university.)

Protecting young minds from melting

On the other side of the summer homework debate are the moms and dads who, when the school doors slam shut, ramp up the supplemental brain work, even if the teachers didn’t provide it themselves. Most parents, though, fall somewhere in the for-better-or-worse-summer-homework-is-here-to-stay camp.

So if the kids have to do it, can we at least be reassured that it’s a magic bullet to protect young minds from melting? “We can’t say that with any objective data,” Cooper says. “But we would make the assumption if students are continuing to flex their mental muscles over the summer, this would have a positive effect on how much material they retain when they return.”

No buy-in from the kids

“There definitely is a lag — I’m not denying that,” says Denise Pope, senior lecturer at the Stanford University School of Education and co-founder of Challenge Success , a research and student-intervention project. “I absolutely agree that three months is a long time to not do anything. That said, I’m not sure this idea of giving workbooks and pages and pages of handouts works.”

The reason it doesn’t work? “There’s not a buy-in from the [kids],” Pope argues. “In order for any learning to be retained, there has to be engagement on the part of the students.” Pope explains that students need the “ABCs of engagement,” which means they’re engaged affectively, behaviorally, and cognitively. “If they’re intrinsically motivated, then they’ll want to do it.”

“I know kids who get these huge 40-page math packets,” Pope says. “It’s because [teachers] want [kids], over time, to have systematic practice. The problem is that this requires an adult to monitor this kind of disciplined work. It’s not like a kid can do that on his own. So it puts a burden more on the parents.”

Year-round homework blues

So, alas, those nightly angst-ridden homework dramas that run from September through June now get year-round billing. The other problem, Pope says, is that summer homework packets (frequently put off until the last unhappy week before school begins), often seem to fall into an academic black hole once they’re turned in — with no feedback from teachers and no effect on kids’ grades.

As for the work that Pope’s three kids — ages 10, 12, and 15 — get handed at school’s end, she tells them, “‘I won’t bug you about this at all. I won’t be the police.’ We look at the assignments they get for the summer and I say, ‘How long do you think this will take? Do you want me to remind you to do it?’ ” But if they leave it until the tail end of the summer, Pope says, well, that’s their choice. It’s their vacation, after all.

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Should Schools Give Summer Homework?

During the past two years, the covid pandemic has greatly disrupted american education, forcing many school districts to use remote instruction for months on end. this has resulted in significant learning loss for students. a recent report by the consulting firm mckinsey & company found that the proportion of high school students meeting proficiency standards dropped five percentage points in math and three points in english. what’s more, this likely underestimates learning loss since the states with the biggest disruptions didn’t give proficiency tests. concern over the extent to which students have fallen behind has renewed debate over whether schools should give homework over the summer. two educators square off about whether that’s a good idea..

Children learn best when instruction is continuous. A long summer vacation in which students do no schoolwork disrupts the rhythm of learning, leads to forgetting, and requires time be spent reviewing old material when students return to school in the fall. Summer homework can help prevent this.

Studies show that, on average, achievement test scores decline between spring and fall, and the loss is more pronounced for math than reading. All students, regardless of economic status, show roughly equal amounts of decline in math skills over the summer. But substantial differences are found when it comes to reading. While middle-class students on average maintain or improve their reading during the summer, children from impoverished families often lose ground. Teachers have seen the same kind of learning loss after long Covid-related school closures.

A long summer break from all academics can also have negative consequences for children with special educational needs. And it can be an extra burden for children who don’t speak English at home: For them, it’s not simply a matter of relearning academic material; in many cases, they also must re-acquaint themselves with the language of instruction.

A summer with no schoolwork disrupts the rhythm of learning.

I don’t know of studies that have directly examined whether students who get summer homework do better in school the next school year. But research has shown that summer school can be highly effective, and summer homework might be considered a “low dose” of summer school.

Summer assignments can vary from giving students a head start in reading books they’ll cover in next year’s English class to having them read chapters of a textbook they’ll be tested on when they return to school. Whatever form it takes, summer homework can have a positive effect on students’ achievement. With so many schools struggling to help students who’ve fallen behind during the pandemic, summer homework seems like an obvious solution to try.

—HARRIS COOPER

Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience, Duke University

With all the concern about Covid-related learning loss among students, it’s tempting to turn to summer homework as a solution. But that might do more harm than good.

Schools should think carefully before assigning summer homework, and not just because it stresses out students (and parents). The truth is, homework doesn’t accomplish what we assume it does. Research shows there’s only a moderate correlation between homework and standardized test scores or long-term achievement in middle school. And research indicates that, even in high school, too much homework can be counterproductive.

Some studies claim that students lose skills if they don’t practice them over the summer. But if a child can’t regain his grasp of fractions with a brief review, maybe those skills weren’t taught well enough in the first place. Doing a mountain of math sheets without a teacher’s help—and perhaps incorrectly—isn’t the answer.

Summer homework negatively affects how students feel about school and learning.

But there are a few things summer homework does accomplish effectively: It steals time away from other important aspects of learning, such as play, which helps young people master social skills and teamwork. In addition, writing book reports means fewer hours being physically active, which is essential for good health and weight control, not to mention proper brain development.

I’m hugely in favor of students reading over the summer, but asking them to plow through a long required-reading list turns an activity that should be fun into a dreaded chore.

Perhaps worst of all, summer homework affects how students feel about learning and school. Summer is a critical time for them to relax and pursue their interests. Nobody wants to spend that time with a long to-do list hanging over them. Do we want our children to start the year refreshed and ready to learn? Or burned out and resentful? It’s something every school should carefully consider.

—NANCY KALISH

Co-author, The Case Against Homework

Should schools give summer homework?

Much Ado About Teaching

Summer work: my shift from mandatory to optional.

When Gina Kortuem asked if I would be interested in a crosspost about summer work, I immediately answered yes because my summer work has slowly morphed over the last few years. I was not at all surprised when I read Gina’s post Why I Ditched Summer Reading to see that she and I have been on a similar journey.

I inherited AP Literature from the prior teacher with summer work included reading How to Read Literature Like a Professor , an assigned novel, and a summer journal already assigned. Students were tested over the books on the first day back and the summer journal was submitted. My year one plan was to follow what my predecessor did since I had no idea what I was doing, so I required the exact same thing. Over time, I have shifted my thinking on summer reading. 

This is what I have found to work with my students at this particular time. We all teach in different places and teach different types of students. In no way am I saying this is the right way or only way to do summer work. You know your students, school, and community so do what’s best for your demographics.

Summer Reading Drawbacks

Even when summer work was mandatory, I had some internal struggles with it for these reasons:

• Equity. Even though I taught in an upper middle class suburban school when I started assigning summer reading, I could not make the assumption that all students had the resources to buy the required books. Especially in AP classes, required students to buy books is a means of gatekeeping, and this was causing me to feel uneasy.
• Rest. When I get to summer, I am exhausted from the marathon of a school year. The last thing I want to do is any kind of school work. Rest – both physically and mentally – deserves our attention and should be valued without guilt. Multiply summer work by 4 or 6 classes, and that leaves little time for students to rest and recharge for the fall (and by fall I mean August 1st for our students). 
• Pleasure. Many teachers argue that students only care about grades and find no joy in learning just for the sake of learning. Having a test on day one over summer work takes a lot of the joy out of learning and honestly not how I want to start class. I am always trying to find ways to make learning less about compliance and more about pleasure, and summer work was often only yielding frustration for me and my students. 
• Lack of Completion. Students often didn’t do summer work. This picture was taken in 2018 when I first went to Grady (now renamed Midtown) HS and The Poisonwood Bible was the required summer reading. When it became apparent that many of my students didn’t read, I asked them to put a sticky note in the quartile of how much they read. The picture speaks for itself. 

What Lead to a Change

Brian Sztabnik’s thoughts on summer work really got me thinking. His desire to assign summer work “that is not punitive but is preparatory” resonated and made me put a stake in the ground.

• Shift two: Adding an Introduction Letter. Inspired by Karla Hilliard, I write a letter to my new students introducing myself and the class and ask them to do the same for me. This has proven to be one of the best things I do all year (it’s all downhill after the first week – ha) because students have a glimpse of my heart for the year and I get a peek at who they are – not how they perform as students. 
• Shift three: Covid. As we make a quick pivot at the end of 2020, our administrators asked teachers to make all summer work optional. This was the final push I needed to really go all in on optional summer work, and even though some teachers at my school have gone back to requiring summer work, I have not and don’t see myself doing this anytime in the near future. 

Summer Work 2024

This summer I’ll give my students the option to do 2 assignment and require 1 assignment due the first week of school. 

Assignment 1 (Optional): Read a book of your choice for fun . No test, no notes, no essay – just read and enjoy and let’s talk about it when you get to school in the fall (or August 1st). I give a list of some of my favorite contemporary novels but the choice is theirs. Young adult? Sure! Graphic novel? Yes! Audiobook? Audiobooks are books! Here’s the list I provide: 

All the Light We Cannot See – Doerr 

Behold the Dreamers – Mbue

Exit West – Hamid 

Homegoing – Gyasi 

In the Time of the Butterflies -Alvarez

Kindred – Octavia Butler

Klara and the Sun – Ishiguro

The Leavers – Ko 

Little Bee – Cleeve 

The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois – Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

Mudbound – Jordan 

The Nix – Hill 

Now is Not the Time to Panic – Wilson

Pachinko – Lee Min-jin

The Poisonwood Bible – Kingsolver 

A Prayer for Owen Meany – Irving 

Purple Hibiscus – Adichie 

Salvage the Bones – Ward 

Sea of Tranquility – Mandel

The Secret History – Tartt 

Southernmost – House 

There,There – Orange 

A Thousand Splendid Suns – Hosseini 

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow – Zevin

White Teeth – Smith 

More of a nonfiction person? Try – 

Becoming – Obama 

The Best We Could Do – Thi Bui

Between the World and Me – Coates 

Born a Crime – Noah (highly recommend audio version that Noah reads)

Educated – Westover 

How the Word Is Passed – Clint Smith

Just Mercy – Stevenson 

Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg – Carmon and Knizhnik

Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention and How to Think Deeply Again – Hari

They Can’t Kill Us Til They Kill Us – Abdurraqib 

The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row – Hinton 

21st Lessons for the 21st Century – Yuval Noah Harari

Assignment 2 (Required): Write me a letter of introduction. Use my introduction letter as a model. This will be students first assignment in class and is due at the end of the first week of school. If they choose to work on it over the summer, that’s one less thing to do during week one.

Assignment 3 (Optional): Keep a journal. Reading and writing are rooted in experience. Having a broad range of experiences is important to understanding the many ideas explored in the works we read in class. In addition, a large part of class is about helping students find their writing voice. These are some of the reasons I encourage students to keep a journal about their thoughts and experiences. Students will have the option of turning these in in place of an essay grade for the first semester. 

Potential Activities to Write About:

1. Attend a summer festival. Try the Atlanta Jazz Festival (free) during Memorial Day weekend, Atlanta Ice Cream Festival , Movies on the Square at Colony Square, or so many others you can find here . 

2. Go to a museum or a historic attraction. Try the High Museum , Carter Presidential Library , Atlanta History Center , Fernbank Museum , Trap House Museum . Many of these places offer free days so check ahead. 

3. Spend a day without electronics. I would love for everyone to try this.  

4. Explore a neighborhood in Atlanta. Eat at the Krog Street Market . Walk the Belt Line . Explore the Westside Provisions or Ponce City Market. . 

5. Go for a hike. Morningside Nature Preserve is really close, but there are lots of great places just a little farther out like  Sweetwater Creek , Providence Canyon , Amicalola Falls , or the Appalachian Trail in Georgia. If you really want to have some fun, check out the Doll’s Head Trail in Atlanta. 

6. As y’all already know, Atlanta has amazing street art . Spend an afternoon taking a self-guided tour or choose some interesting murals to visit. 

7. Go tent camping. 

8. Attend the theatre (not the movie theater) to see a live production. Try the Shakespeare Tavern , plays in Piedmont Park, or the Center for Puppetry Arts . 

9. Eat a meal from another culture.  

10. Work at a shelter, food pantry, or other organization preparing or delivering food.

11. Prepare a meal for your family or friends and then enjoy it with them. 

12. Spend an afternoon exploring one of Atlanta’s many parks. Westside Park recently opened and of course Piedmont Park is directly across the street from the school.  

13. Buy some fruit at a local farmer’s market then bake a cake or cobbler. 

14. Attend a service or interview a person of a different religion. 

15. Visit the Martin Luther King National Historic Park which includes MLK’s birthplace, Dr. and Mrs. King’s graves, and Ebenezer Baptist Church. This is not only in our school district (many of you live close to there) but it’s also free. 

16. Plan a trip – map out the route, find places to stay, and points of interest to visit. 

17. Spend an evening playing board games or cards with your family or friends. 

18. Visit a cemetery and read the headstones. Consider the history of family, community, state, and nation embodied in these headstones. Reflect on your experiences. Creepy but fun. Oakland Cemetery is my favorite . 

19. Visit a quiet spot on a beach, by a stream, or by a lake. Spend an hour in thought and record your thoughts in a journal or notebook. 

20. Spend a morning or afternoon exploring a neighborhood in Atlanta that you’re not familiar with. 

Final Thoughts

When I think back on the progression of my summer assignments, I can see how my teaching philosophy has shifted. While I don’t want to reinvent the wheel each year, I do like freshening up assignments to reflect the changing needs of our students and my growth as a professional. I’ll end where I began: there’s no right way to do summer work.

You can find my entire summer work instructions for students here: Barber Summer Work 2023 .

Susan Barber  teaches AP Lit and Writers Workshop/Advanced Composition at Midtown High School in Atlanta, Georgia and serves as the College Board Advisor for AP Lit. In addition to reading, writing, and investing in the next generation, she loves watching college football with her family especially when Alabama is playing .

Feature photo image: Photo by S O C I A L . C U T on Unsplash

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On June 10, 2020, as the U.S. Capitol remained partially shut down amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions held a virtual hearing on what schools ought to do. Speaking over a video feed from his home in Silver Spring, Maryland, former Obama administration Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. called for “summer distance learning” as one way to mitigate the months of lost learning from school closures.  

Summer school is on many policymakers’ minds. King, who is now the president of Education Trust, a nonprofit that advocates for low-income students, and Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, a national teacher’s union, jointly argued for additional funding for summer schooling in an April editorial in the Hill newspaper.   In June 2020, the Center on Reinventing Public Education, a think tank based at the University of Washington, posted a survey of summer school plans around the country. Only slightly more than half of the 100 U.S. districts the organization is tracking were planning to offer summer school for elementary and middle school students in 2020, as of the latest update , on June 9. (Summer school is more prevalent for high schools students to retake failed classes.) For the schools that are holding summer school, instruction in most cases will be exclusively virtual — over the internet. But the type of instruction, hours and curriculum vary wildly, depending upon which city or town you happen to live in. 

I was curious what lessons we could take from previous research on summer school to guide us during this unprecedented summer. I could find only one large, well-designed study , published in 2016, that tested how much kids actually learn in voluntary summer school programs. It was targeted at 3,000 low-income children in five cities in 2013. Most of the children were black or Hispanic. Many were low achieving and behind grade level. (The study was funded by the Wallace Foundation, which is also among the many funders of The Hechinger Report.)

Researchers at RAND, a nonprofit research organization, had designed a sort of ideal summer school experience drawing upon expert opinions and academic theories. The curriculum wasn’t identical in all five cities:  Boston, Dallas, Jacksonville, Pittsburgh and Rochester.  But the school districts all agreed to the same basic structure: five or more weeks long, a full-day from roughly 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. so parents could work and three hours of reading and math instruction in the morning with certified teachers and a class size of 12 or fewer students. 

As an enticement, afternoons were filled with fun camp activities from rock climbing and sailing to cooking and theater but these were also run by teachers, many of whom were certified in special education for children with disabilities. It was marketed to third graders as a free summer program for two summers in a row and, not surprisingly, many more families applied than there were spots. That allowed researchers to create an admissions lottery and compare the academic and social-emotional outcomes of the 3,000 third-graders who got spots with the 2,400 who didn’t.

The results were disappointing. After two consecutive years of high-quality summer school costing more than $1,300 per student each summer, the kids who went to summer school didn’t do any better academically or by social-emotional measures than the kids who didn’t. One small exception was in math but the initial fourth-grade improvement in math scores was short-lived and it dissipated by the start of fifth grade. 

RAND continued to track the children through seventh grade in 2017, after an additional two years of not attending the summer school. Those final results are expected to be published later in 2020 but I’m not anticipating a surprise turnaround. 

The problem, the researchers discovered, was attendance. Twenty percent of the kids never showed up. Those who did only attended summer school 75 percent of the time despite the fact that the summer school programs in all five cities provided free transportation and food. “Parents had vacations planned,” said Catherine Augustine, lead researcher on the RAND summer school study.   “Or grandma was coming into town. Or the kids got sick. Or there was a football camp they wanted them to do for one week.” Worse, only half the kids came back for the second summer. 

“When we look at the kids who actually attended at high rates, they did well,” she said. 

For the fraction of kids who faithfully attended summer school for both summers following third and fourth grades, reading and math scores were significantly higher in the spring of fifth grade in 2015 than for students who didn’t win the summer school lottery. Indeed, the learning gained during the five weeks of summer school matched the amount that kids typically learn during five weeks of a school year. That’s important. If you can get kids to show up, summer school — with only lessons in the morning — can be as effective as regular school. 

But since kids who missed a couple weeks didn’t reap such benefits, the lesson that Augustine takes away is that summer programs need to be long to be successful. 

“I would still recommend that districts, if they’re going to provide a summer opportunity remotely, make sure that they do it for enough hours, days and weeks to make a difference,” Augustine said. “A lot of districts want to do a two-week summer reading program. But it’s not going to kick kids up above a reading level that their peers are at who didn’t go through that experience.”

Augustine said she was “pessimistic” that virtual lessons over the summer will work as well as face-to-face ones. “We’ve seen so many reports about kids feeling Zoomed out and burnt out from being on screens,” she said. There’s the risk that attendance in virtual summer school will be even worse than in RAND’s in-person experiment.

Harvard education professor James S. Kim praised the RAND study as one of the “most rigorous studies that’s ever been done on the topic” of summer school. But he says there isn’t much wisdom you can gain from it or other studies on summer school when students and teachers are unable to gather in person. “As we try to translate classroom based interventions to an online format, we don’t know how they will impact kids,” said Kim. “The evidence from previous programs doesn’t apply here.”

But he does encourage school systems to try new things this summer and track the results closely so that we can all learn from them. In addition to tinkering with traditional summer school models, Kim suggests that school systems consider adapting aspects of home-based educational models , in which some form of teacher instruction or feedback can be combined with reading materials at home. 

Kim’s expertise is in reading and his best advice to families right now is to download free digital books, for example through the Libby library app , read aloud to your child and discuss books together.

“I would recommend reading aloud from kindergarten to middle school,” said Kim. “Think about what teachers do in middle school to get kids interested in reading texts they otherwise might not read by themselves. They do read alouds. These are simple, low-cost practices that anyone can implement.”

But Kim’s wish for experimentation and innovation by school systems may not become a reality. When Bree Dusseault, a researcher at the Center in Reinventing Public Education, read through districts’ summer plans, she observed that they were largely planning a “virtual version of traditional summer school.” 

“Some are doing that really well,” Dusseault said. She cited Miami’s efforts to target different kids with different interventions, for example, summer reading “camp” for some elementary school children but motivational support for kids who hadn’t been logging into virtual school in the spring. 

But Dusseault hasn’t seen examples of schools testing new ways of teaching online, or trying new ways of mixing in-person with computerized instruction.

“In this new reality, we’re either going to be all virtual or partially virtual. This is an opportunity to pause and pilot and practice approaches that might serve them well in the fall ,” said Dusseault. “It’s a missed opportunity.”

This story about  summer school programs  was written by Jill Barshay and produced by  The Hechinger Report , a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the  Hechinger newsletter .

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What Summer School Can and Can't Do

• Posted April 22, 2021
• By Jill Anderson
• Disruption and Crises
• Families and Community
• Inequality and Education Gaps
• Informal and Out-of-School Learning
• Student Achievement and Outcomes

Despite talk about using the summer to make up for lost learning time during the pandemic, Catherine Augustine knows a lot more goes into planning a summer school program than meets the eye. As a senior policy researcher at RAND Corporation, she has spent many years studying what makes summer school a success. It’s not as simple as picking a curriculum and offering a program, especially on the heels of COVID.

“[Schools] need to recruit teachers who want to be there, who are motivated to focus on the kids in the summer, who have the right background skills and experiences. That might be particularly challenging this year, if teachers are more stressed and burned out than they typically are,” she says. “Getting the curriculum right for the summer is also a challenge. There aren't a lot of off-the-shelf curricula that districts can purchase for the summer. There are some, but of course a district wants to be sure that the curriculum they use in the summer aligns to their own standards and to those kids' needs.”

In this episode of the EdCast, Augustine shares the many different ways summer school can benefit children and what makes can make a program effective.

TRANSCRIPT:

Jill Anderson: I'm Jill Anderson, this is the Harvard EdCast.

There's been a lot of talk about summer school as a way to make up for lost learning time during COVID. Catherine Augustine wants to remind that summer school isn't magic. She has long studied summer school to better understand what makes these programs effective. Many children benefit academically from summer school programs, and there's many ways to consider how helpful these programs can be. I wanted to know more about what summer school can and can't do. First, Catherine filled me in on what summer school actually looks like today.

Catherine Augustine: Even the old fashioned kind of summer school, which is not in vogue now but the kind that you and I might remember from our childhood, where we were sitting, if we went, in un-air conditioned classrooms, going through academic material by rote memorization, even those worked. Their goal typically tends to be getting kids to advance to the next grade level, that happens after kids go through those types of remedial summer programs even today. Those kinds of programs work. The kind that we studied, which are voluntary summer programs, we also saw that they were effective. Now, the caveat there is that students needed to attend them, because those programs are voluntary, unlike the remedial summer school.

Certainly, there are other kinds of summer programs like career programs for high school students that have amazing outcomes in terms of reductions in crime and graduation from high school and success in the workforce later in life. There are all sorts of summer programs that do work, and so as districts and states are thinking about what to do, they should familiarize themselves with the structure of these programs, which ones work, and for those that do, how exactly they work.

Jill Anderson: Talk to me a little bit about the attendance issue and what can be done to mitigate that.

Catherine Augustine: It depends on how you think about attendance and success. In our study, for example, which was the largest RCT done on summer programs to date, we saw over the course of four years that each summer, about 20% of the kids who enrolled never showed up and those who did attended about 75% of the time. We saw that in order to benefit academically from these programs, they needed to attend at least 20 of the 25 days, and 60% of the kids did that. Then half of those kids came for a second summer. So you tell me, is that a success or is that a failure? Depending on the size of these programs, it's a lot of kids. If you have 60% of the kids attending and then benefit, that's actually not bad when you look at other types of education interventions.

It's not perfect, and when I talk about these rates with other school districts, many of them say, "Oh, we could do better than that," and maybe they can. We saw in the programs we studied that kids attended at higher rates if the programs themselves were what we called warm and welcoming with a positive climate, if kids were greeted at the door and I don't know if this would happen post COVID, but if they were hugged when they arrived, if they were walked with in the transitions between classes, if the teachers ate lunch with them in the classroom. If the kids really felt like they were bonding with adults and with the other students, they tended to come back and they had higher attendance rates than these averages that I just shared with you.

Jill Anderson: That's so interesting. What about incentives to get their kids to come to summer school?

Catherine Augustine: The districts we worked with tried a number of incentives, and you are right, one of the districts gave those incentives to parents. If the kids attended so many days, the parents would get a gift card to a local grocery store. Other districts gave the incentives directly to kids, so if you attended X number of days, you could take a big field trip at the end, like the kids in Jacksonville, Florida got to go to Disney World. Others gave smaller incentives, but for a particular class instead of the individual kids. If everybody attended within a class for four out of the five days or every day in the week, there'd be an ice cream party on Friday.

Now, all three of those types of incentives worked to some degree. The incentive for parents was very expensive and probably not replicable. The smaller incentive for the ice cream parties, that also worked because kids were putting peer pressure on each other to come back and it was a short term benefit that they could foresee actually happening in their near future. I think that districts need to get to know their own kids best and what would work for them and motivate them, but those incentives were not as strong in motivating attendance as was having a positive, warm, and welcoming climate.

Jill Anderson: What are some of the big roadblocks that districts face when they try to put in a summer school program? Catherine Augustine: Well, we recommend planning them quite early. Putting on a summer program is akin to planning an entire school year, but you're just planning it for five weeks, right?

Jill Anderson: Right.

Catherine Augustine: Many districts, particularly large urban districts like we studied, serve thousands of kids in these programs. They need to bus them, they need to hire the teachers, they need to have the curriculum ready, they need to train the teachers in advance, they need to recruit the students. Most districts start that planning in the fall, sometimes as late as January, but if they're just starting now, they might not be able to put on as ambitious of a program for this summer as they otherwise could. Planning early is really important, particularly for larger programs.

We found that if a district is focusing on both math and reading it, for elementary school-aged kids, those are caveats, then the programs should last for at least five weeks. That can be a challenge for districts, because teachers want to have a break after the school year ends, or perhaps a break before they go back. Other things need to happen in the summer in districts, buildings need to be repaired, teachers need to go through training, so finding those five weeks can be a challenge.

They also need to recruit teachers who want to be there, who are motivated to focus on the kids in the summer, who have the right background skills and experiences. That might be particularly challenging this year, if teachers are more stressed and burned out than they typically are. Getting the curriculum right for the summer is also a challenge. There aren't a lot of off-the-shelf curricula that districts can purchase for the summer. There are some, but of course a district wants to be sure that the curriculum they use in the summer aligns to their own standards and to those kids' needs. Figuring out who to invite to the summer program and then how to tailor the curriculum can be a challenge as well.

Jill Anderson: I guess I'm wondering how realistic and feasible it might be to implement some type of summer school program off the cuff at this point. Are schools too late to actually do this?

Catherine Augustine: In all honesty, I think they're probably too late to launch the large multi-subject programs that we studied. But if they had such a program in the past, it's not too late, if they're simply going to repeat something they've offered or revive something they've offered recently. I do think that districts could provide a less ambitious program. It could be reading only combined with reading-related activities, like playwriting or something else that requires reading but is fun for the students. It could be a math/STEM program only, where students are focusing on math but also building something using robotics or doing something else that is also fun and engaging and active. I do think districts can certainly make use of the summer, for sure, but they should probably focus on one subject, unless, like I said, they're skilled at doing this and have done it in the recent past.

Jill Anderson: Does it make sense to mandate summer school for all kids, considering the unique circumstances of COVID, or does it not make sense to do that?

Catherine Augustine: In my opinion, it does not. Other people might disagree and might have good reason to do so. The programs that we studied had 15 or fewer kids per class, and those were the kids whom the district and teachers, principals, identified as really needing this time in the summer, and for lots of different reasons, in addition to perhaps falling behind academically. Teachers told us they were really able to focus on kids in small groups, sometimes one-on-one. Obviously, tutoring is being advocated now, and for good reason, and that happens in programs with smaller class sizes. Mandating summer for all kids is the equivalent of extending the school year, right?

Jill Anderson: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Catherine Augustine: That could be beneficial for sure. It's obviously not going to address achievement gaps within a school district. I send my daughter to a public school and she's actually doing well, but so many of her friends and kids she knows are not. There are kids who've not showed up yet at all in the past year, which is a tragedy. Kids who are really struggling if they've been online all year or even in a hybrid situation, so why not take the summer to focus on the kids who need it the most. My daughter wouldn't need it, but other kids in her exact same school would. In my opinion, extending the school year for all is a missed opportunity to focus on the kids who are most disadvantaged.

Jill Anderson: Then making that voluntary for that population of students, would you say?

Catherine Augustine: Here's the challenge with having a mandatory summer program. As I said earlier, they have been shown to work, but they really require a strong stick. In most cases, it's your kids got to go or they're going to be retained in grade. Parents today, if given a choice, don't want their kids to go to a mandatory summer program that the parents see themselves as not having a say in and it brings back memories of awful summer school programs from their past. What parents want is they want a program that is going to advance their kids academically, but also is going to allow them to have fun. Attracting parents by promoting a summer opportunity that does both is, based on our research, the best way to get parents to sign up.

Now, I should remind you that we studied elementary school programs, so I know less about middle school or high school programs, although, most of those programs are not mandatory unless you consider a credit recovery program at the high school level to be mandatory. I would not make the programs mandatory unless there is a really strong stick. If a district has the ability through board policy to retain kids in grade and plans to do that unless they've reached some kind of standard, absolutely, yeah. Make sure parents know about that and that will be a way that they get kids to attend, but in general, I would recommend that the programs be voluntary.

Jill Anderson: Can you tell us a little bit about, or help parents figure out, when summer school might make sense for their kid?

Catherine Augustine: Yeah, absolutely. I get a lot of questions from parents about what they should do with their kids this summer, primarily because of the pandemic. I try to reassure them a little bit by reminding them that everybody had a terrible year, all kids did. I don't think the vast majority of kids learned as much this past year as they would have otherwise, or last spring for that matter. That anxiety is certainly justifiable, but their kids aren't going to be further behind their peers, necessarily. If their kids have done pretty well, all said, during the pandemic compared to their peers, they probably don't need an academic summer program, but it really depends on what the kid's own needs and goals are as well as what the parents want and what their goals are.

I mean, these summer programs that we studied were free, offered by the school districts, provided free transportation on a bus, which takes away a big barrier, provided lunch, breakfast and a snack, provided sports activities, swimming, biking, canoeing, rock climbing, sand volleyball, I could go on and on, as well as the arts. They benefited kids in a lot of ways, not just academically. If a parent needs that, and I hate to say it, I hate to say if a needs childcare because nobody wants to think about an educational opportunity as childcare, but it's the reality for parents of little kids and they need a program that's free, and they not only think their child would benefit academically, but perhaps also socially by being around their friends early on, by bonding with teachers, there's a lot of good reasons to send your own child to a district-offered summer program.

But certainly not every parent should panic. I don't think their child is necessarily going to be worse off just because of the pandemic. Certainly, some children are worse off for an any host of reasons and not just academically, but mentally, socially, emotionally, et cetera, and there are other summer programs that address other needs too. Finding an opportunity for one's child in the summer, the district program might be the best choice, but certainly another choice might be better.

One thing that I like to tell people or remind people is that summer programs are not magic. We did find that they benefited kids academically. Basically, kids learned in the summer program about 15% of what they learned during the school year. Now, should that surprise anyone? No. Because why? Because summer programs are about 15% of the length of the school year. Kids learn in these programs. I mean, yes, they have to attend, and yes, not every child does, but there are kids benefiting from these programs at the same rate basically that they learn during the school year. No one, policymakers, parents, should think they're magical, that a child will attend a summer program and gain three months of learning, but people shouldn't dismiss them either. They are a tool. If there is funding available now that wasn't available in the past, be creative, get kids engaged. There are a lot of exciting things that these district programs were doing and they do benefit kids. They're not magic, but they are beneficial. I think they're a good option along with others, as parents, districts, policymakers are thinking about how to help kids now.

Jill Anderson: Well, thank you so much. This was really informative.

Catherine Augustine: You are welcome.

Jill Anderson: Catherine Augustine as a senior policy researcher at the Rand Corporation. I'm Jill Anderson. This is the Harvard EdCast, produced by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Thanks for listening.

An education podcast that keeps the focus simple: what makes a difference for learners, educators, parents, and communities

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Summer Homework: A How-To Guide for Parents and Kids

It’s become a predictable yearly debate that rolls around every June:

Should my kids really be getting summer homework?

And if they do, how should we approach it so they actually learn something over the summer (rather than just doing busywork)?

Here’s the thing:

At some schools, kids are routinely overloaded with multiple books to read, and big math packets to complete.

At other schools? Nothing is assigned.

My personal opinion is that the right balance lies somewhere in the middle… Yes, we want kids to keep their minds sharp, but not at the expense of having fun over the summer.

So in this post I’ll cover:

• My opinion on the age-old summer homework debate (in the video below)
• How to handle the different types of work assigned to students over the summer
• Some specific recommendations for what you can do as a parent to keep your kids engaged in the process, including a recent interview I did with WTOP’s Every Day is Kid’s Day podcast on the topic

And you’ll walk away with a better understanding of how to make the most out of homework (or lack thereof) this summer.

You can click one of the links below to jump to one of the sections of the guide:

How much is too much summer homework? How to tackle summer reading (The Amazon Method) How to handle math packets and workbooks Creative ways to make Summer Learning fun

Or jump right in with the video below.

How much is too much? What the research says…

When kids do nothing at all in math and reading, the research shows that they can lose two to three months of learning progress over the summer.

Just think: That’s almost as if they decided to end the school year in March!

And if left alone, those losses accumulate over time with respect to their peers.

A 2007 study out of John’s Hopkins University showed that while students (on average) make similar gains in reading comprehension throughout the year, students without access to learning opportunities make no progress over the summer, while students with access outpace them year after year.

Ultimately, by the time they reach 5th grade, disadvantaged students are the equivalent of 3 full grade levels behind their advantaged peers in reading ability!

But, this trend need not apply to your son or daughter…

Because studies also show that kids who read just four books over the summer are able to almost completely eliminate that summer learning slide.

So here’s my take:

If your son or daughter is being required to…

• Read three books, probably classics that they really don’t want to read
• Write multiple essays
• And complete stacks of math assignments

… that’s probably a bit overboard.

Yes, we want kids to keep their minds sharp, but not at the expense of having fun over the summer.

So my recommendation is to create a balance. Get your summer assignments done, but try to structure it in a way that makes learning fun.

Here’s how to do it…

Required vs. Recommended Summer Homework

First off, we can break down summer homework assignments in terms of required vs. recommended .

Most schools send out a recommended reading list, and sometimes subject review packets to their students to complete over the summer.

And some actually require that their students complete a certain amount of those assignments over the summer, which are included in their grade for the upcoming school year.

Now, it does make sense to prioritize required assignments over recommended assignments… especially if your school went overboard with what they handed out.

But as long as it’s not too much material, regardless of whether reading is assigned or not, I recommend working with your child to map out a plan of attack for the summer to get it done (on their terms – see below).

How to tackle summer reading (The Amazon Method)

By far, the most popular category of summer homework assigned are reading lists.

And although most schools have a recommended reading list, they tend to be very broad ( umm, should my 8-year-old really be reading MacBeth right now? )…

Specific reading requirements

Sometimes though, there are specific books that your student needs to read over the summer (see the “required” section above), especially high school students, and you’ll need to work with them to figure out a plan of attack.

Block off some time at the beginning of summer (don’t let it wait until July!) to sit down and ask them:

“You have these 3 books you have to read this summer. How would you like to tackle these?”

And then let them answer. Help them formulate a (realistic) plan with their input, and they’ll but much more likely to follow it… and not end up in the last-minute reading rush on August 30th trying to get their summer reading done!

Flexible reading requirements

But on the other hand, if you do have some flexibility in terms of what your student is assigned to read over the summer, what I like to do is create a reading list tailored specifically towards the age or interests of your student.

And one of the best ways to do this is: Amazon!

Step 1: Go to Amazon.com and type in “Books for… [insert description of your child]”

For example, if I had a 7th grader at home I would search: “Books for middle school”

Or if I was looking for something more girl-oriented for my daughter I would search: “Books for middle school girls”

It’s amazing what books will pop up on the top of the list for kids…

Step 2: Review the list and make sure that the results are relevant (sometimes they require a little tweaking), and pay attention to the options on the sidebar where you can filter by subject, age rage, etc.

Then run them by your child and ask: “Which one of these do you want to read this summer?”

Look over the summaries and let them pick the books they want to read.

Word of caution: It’s not your responsibility as a parent to pass judgment and say:

“You know what honey, this year you’re not reading a graphic novel. You can only read books with words, no pictures.

We don’t want to do that as parents. We really want to let our kids decide, because when they’re invested, they’re much more likely to meet that four book goal over the summer.

Step 3: Either order online or head out to the library…

Make sure to do this before July 4th so the summer doesn’t get away from you, and use your list of books that you picked out.

Then, when you get your books back home…

Step 4: Sit down with them and make a plan.

Don’t assume your child will gleefully run up to his room and begin flipping the pages. They’re much more likely to read consistently if you have “READING TIME” marked off on the calendar at a consistent time each day.

You can even make it a family routine! Having everyone in the house reading at the same time will help encourage your child to get their reading done, especially if they’re reluctant or easily distracted.

Now, many kids are reluctant readers and may need a parent to help them get started… And you need to be willing to make the time to lend a hand.

This can be in the form of “you read a page, he reads a page” or for a really reluctant reader, “you read two pages and he reads one,” until he’s into the story.

Make this a habit, and before long you’ll have a bookworm on your hands!

How to handle math packets and workbooks

The same principles hold true for other assigned work as well.

Don’t assume your child will be chipping away at those math packets one day at a time (and the thicker they are, the more daunting they’ll seem).

Truth be told: we get lots of calls from parents mid-August, panicked that their kid hasn’t read and annotated a three-hundred-page book and completed a bunch of review worksheets – even though the parent has reminded him at least ten times!

This situation isn’t unique.

The value to any summer learning is doing a little bit at a time over a long stretch. The brain retains information best in bit sized chunks, not by cramming.

And this is even more important for math because it’s a subject that continually builds on itself. So if you miss something early on, you’re probably going to have to back-track when you run into that same concept again in the future.

So just like with reading assignments, if your son or daughter are assigned a math packet (or any other type of subject packet) over the summer, make sure to site down and set the plan early.

Aside from your typical reading lists and workbooks though, you can also encourage learning in other (more fun!) ways this summer…

Creative ways to make Summer Learning fun

Below is a recent interview I did with WTOP’s Every Day is Kid’s Day podcast (interview starts at 0:53) on how to bring a fresh perspective to summer learning, and make things more fun and interesting for your son or daughter this year.

Give it a listen for some more tips on:

• Using the Amazon Method to make summer reading more fun
• Alternatives to summer workbooks that are actually fun and effective
• Whether you should spend the time to try and “preview” material they’re going to see in the coming year
• And a whole bunch of other useful ideas for staying engaged over the summer

Here are some of those great ways to get your child into learning, outside of school recommended assignments:

For writing: use a dialogue journal.

One of the best ways to get your child comfortable with writing on a regular basis is to make a game out of it.

So try designating a “special” notebook or journal that lives in your kid’s room that you can use to communicate with them through writing.

Then, simply leave them a note each day, that they read and respond to.

Maybe you say something like, “I noticed how you helped your brother pick up those puzzle pieces. What a nice idea. How did you know he needed your help?”

Leave the journal on his bed and allow him to write back that evening. The next day, you respond.

And be sure not to fix grammar or spelling, just let these be a carefree way to practice writing and even illustrations.

At the end of the summer, not only will they have improved their writing skills, but you’ll also have an amazing keepsake to look back on for years to come.

For reading: listen to audiobooks!

Don’t forget that audio books can be very helpful for developing comprehension and fluency.

Studies show that when kids want to read a book just above their level and listen to the book while following along with the lines, they improve their skills more than if they read independently.

So using a site like Audible.com or going to your local library website to download audio versions of the books your son or daughter has picked out (or has assigned) for the summer isn’t cheating, it’s just another way to “open the door” to getting them involved in reading.

Plus, it’s great for long summer road trips!

For math: play (math) games on the iPad.

For most of us, it’s a constant battle to keep our kids AWAY from the devices over the summer… but it need not be either or.

One of the best ways to “bridge the gap” is to give your child the opportunity to use educational apps or websites on their phone or iPad that will keep them learning, without feeling like math always has to involve drudgery.

Multiplication.com is great site for staying sharp on math facts. And pretty much every elementary schooler needs to practice their addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division over the summer to stay sharp.

Funbrain.com is also perfect for allowing a little screen time in-between reading or homework sessions, while still learning at the same time.

For learning that’s fun: find local adventures!

Yes, you could have your kids spend their summer doing workbooks and refresher material, and that would probably help them stay sharp… but most kids find that to be a drag on their motivation to learn.

Instead, find a local museum or science center and take field trip!

Use the outing to ask your kids to guide the learning session and pick out what they want to explore… and then tell you about it.

And then watch in amazement at how excited they are, not even realizing that they’re “learning,” but just enjoying the moment and experiencing something new.

Summer camps are great for this too, so do some Googling and find out what’s going on in your area.

Now let’s hear from you..

How have you handled the balance between required summer schoolwork and fun?

What have you done that’s helpful in your family to keep summer learning alive without going overboard?

I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!

Homeroom: Why Kids Need Summer-Reading Assignments

They need time to recharge. But taking a break shouldn’t mean ignoring academic skills altogether.

Editor’s Note: Every Tuesday, Abby Freireich and Brian Platzer take questions from readers about their kids’ education. Have one? Email them at [email protected].

Dear Abby and Brian,

My third grader hates reading and we’d all been looking forward to a respite this summer, when he wouldn’t need to read each night and we wouldn’t need to force him to do so. But we just received the summer-reading assignment from his teacher, which requires him to read a minimum of six books and write three book reports. After the year he’s had, do I really need to force him to do this work over the summer, when he should be relaxing? Won’t it make him hate reading even more?

Kristal Boston, Mass.

Dear Kristal,

You’re right that your son needs a break this summer. After the intensity and challenges of the past year and a half, kids need time to relax and recharge—ideally outdoors, with friends, and far from the glare of a screen. But taking a break shouldn’t mean ignoring academic skills altogether. Summer reading is crucial to reducing the gap between students who struggle and those who succeed. Your son’s teacher is right to assign work that will help him retain skills gained during the school year and set him up to thrive come fall.

You describe a common vicious cycle. A student’s lack of skills or confidence in a particular subject leads to his avoiding it, which in turn leads to more pressure from parents and teachers for him to work harder, which can leave him feeling even worse. You’re being forced to choose between making him read so that he keeps apace and leaving him alone so that he doesn’t come to hate reading even more—an impossible choice. To break the cycle, you’ll need to make reading more enjoyable, and more routine, for him.

Start off by helping him find books that he’s likely to take pleasure in. Even the most reluctant readers have topics or genres that they prefer. While the thought of another book about soccer or aliens may make you cringe, your priority should be finding books that he likes, or at least doesn’t dread.

You might plan an outing with him to the bookstore. After a year of remote learning, picking a physical book from a physical shelf is especially rewarding. If the school assigned a summer-reading list, bring it along so you can look it over with your son. Read some of the synopses together to see which most interest him, and let him choose a couple of books. Before your outing, consider asking your son’s teacher for recommendations.

After he’s chosen his summer-reading books, help your son plan how to get through them by establishing a routine. He should choose a particular time of day that he’ll do his reading. Maybe it’ll be right after breakfast or every night before bed. What’s important is consistency: Reading will become more of a habit and less of a battle if he has a regular time when he expects to be doing it.

When mapping out time to read, frequency is key. To reinforce his skills, 15 to 20 minutes of daily reading is better than, say, two hours every Sunday. He might jot down a sentence-long summary and a reaction every day or two after completing his reading so that writing a book report will be easier when he finishes the book.

If your son has required reading that seems daunting, suggest that you do it together. Shared reading can make a text more engaging and accessible, so you might start a book club with him. Some kids won’t want parents reading with them, but others find it a massive relief. You know your son best, so don’t push if he’s resistant.

Your goal should be to weave reading into his life in such a way that it won’t require a daily battle. He may never love reading, but by giving him agency and helping him create a routine, you’ll make this summer more relaxing for both of you.

B y submitting a letter, you are agreeing to let The Atlantic use it—in part or in full—and we may edit it for length and/or clarity.

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Summer brain drain: is summer homework worth the time spent?

Parul Pari , Magazine Editor-In-Chief | September 6, 2018

Reading summer novels can be effective to keep your brain running over the summer for some people, but not for others. Is it worth the time?

Spending a bright, beautiful summer day indoors annotating a mandatory novel is not the ideal way most students want to spend their days off. But are the advantages and disadvantages of summer homework worth the amount of time spent?

“I don’t think summer homework helps me do better in school because it doesn’t really prepare you for what you’re going to learn. The only exception to that is summer reading, but that’s only because there’s an entire unit formed around the summer reading books,” Maya Wiley, junior , said.

When put in action, the task of completing summer homework over the course of the three months off is not an effective moving into the school year, according to Wiley.

“I think teachers assign summer homework because they think you need to do work during the summer,” Wiley said. “Realistically everybody just procrastinates the homework until at least the last week before school starts, so it neither helps or inhibits any summer learning.”

Evan Handeland, junior , who finds himself procrastinating, believes that check-ins throughout the summer can help solve this issue of time management.

“There should be some checkpoints on completion to meet during the summer because I have found myself procrastinating to the last minute to complete my summer homework and then rushing. That leads to me not actually understanding the content and in the long run, does not help me at all,” Handeland said.

Despite these shortcomings, Handeland feels that summer homework is actually an effective way for him to start of his new school year on the right foot.

“I think summer homework does help me do better in school because it gets my mind back into school mode after a break. I wouldn’t say any class in particular over does summer assignments and honestly teachers assign summer homework to get the students already thinking about the material so the learning process moves more efficiently,” Handeland said.

In terms of changing the curriculum for the future, Wiley feels that due to the ineffectiveness of summer homework, at the end of the day, it is not needed at all.

“During the school year we get so much homework that I think it’s okay to have a three-month break,” Wiley said. “The amount of homework students do each night during the school year added up probably equals the amount of time off for summer we have anyways.”

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A Vacation? It's Time To Finish Homework

By Jane Gross

• Aug. 30, 2002

A chart on Peggy Jurow's refrigerator tells her older son, John, exactly how much time remains before the start of his senior year in high school and exactly how much of his summer homework remains undone.

''I like him to visually see it,'' said Mrs. Jurow, a lawyer. ''I don't want to get to the point where it's Labor Day at 3 o'clock in the morning.''

As the clock ticked toward Sept. 3, the first day of school for John, his customary bravado wore a bit thin. He is carrying four Advanced Placement courses at Glen Ridge High School, which is at the forefront of a trend toward more demanding summer assignments. By his mother's estimate, John had at least 70 hours of work to do when summer started. He has nearly as much as it draws to a close.

Summer homework was first assigned years ago as voluntary reading as a way to encourage literacy, keep minds alert and prevent academic backsliding. But the workload has escalated, along with competition among high schools for high rankings, even in the popular press (New Jersey magazine ranks Glen Ridge No. 3 in the state) and ambition among students for Ivy League acceptances.

Now, there are often mandatory reading and writing assignments in grade school. And some high schools have added summer preparation for the growing numbers of students enrolled in the Advanced Placement classes that colleges tally to judge the rigor of their high school workload.

Even proponents of homework wonder how much is too much. ''It's an excellent strategy in moderation,'' said Harris Cooper, a professor of psychological sciences at the University of Missouri, who cites higher standards, more demanding curriculum and the risk of summer ''learning loss'' as justification for vacation assignments.

''But in many instances,'' he added, ''parents who complain have legitimate concerns. If the workload isn't reasonable, given the cultural and familial issues that surround summer, you hit the law of diminishing returns and then lose the support of parents and kids.''

Few schools have a summer workload like the one in Glen Ridge. But Summit High School in nearby Union County, Great Neck South on Long Island and the Ramaz School, a yeshiva on Manhattan's Upper East Side, to name a few, also make assignments so demanding that parents shorten vacations, leave teenagers at the library while the rest of the family is at the beach and expect all-nighters at the end of August.

In Summit, another highly ranked high school, Ruth Gais wanted to write a note for her daughter Clare Needham, 16, to get her out of some of her summer homework. But Clare feared retribution. Instead, she returned home early from the Adirondacks to finish ''The Bonfire of the Vanities'' by Tom Wolfe, read a biography of Alice James and write a six-page paper on it, and do another paper on ''The Illusion,'' a Tony Kushner adaptation of a 17th-century play by Corneille. She also had to read two books of her choosing and keep a weekly journal.

Clare said she had approached the summer with ''a sense of dread,'' despite the thrill of spending a month in France with the Experiment in International Living. ''I need to let my brain rest,'' she said. Her mother, a rabbi who attended private school at Brearley nearly four decades ago, where summer work was then nonexistent and is now moderate, complained that Clare's ''love of learning could be destroyed in the name of preserving Summit, N.J.'s, reputation.''

Education ''is not about this,'' Ms. Gais said. ''It's about creating souls and good citizens.''

For John Jurow in Glen Ridge, a typical teenage procrastinator, a week on Long Beach Island with his family and a month as a camp counselor left enough free time to get through the 815 pages of ''Trinity'' by Leon Uris, part of his Advanced Placement English assignment. But late in August he had just begun ''Jane Eyre'' and a journal in which he had to make observations on the novel's character development, literary devices, diction, plot and setting.

For Advanced Placement physics, he still had to read 10 chapters in a commercial study guide on mechanics and electrostatics, make and memorize 40 flash cards on topics including metric prefixes and Newtonian mechanics, and prepare for a quiz the first day of school. For A.P. French, he had polished off a packet of exercises, but almost forgot to read a short story and watch a film in French, critique both in essays and make a 10-minute audio tape. In A.P. art, he had yet to begin a painting, sculpture or other piece on the theme he intends to work with all semester -- say, faces or windows.

''I'm not going to pretend I'm happy about it,'' said John, who insisted he never ''gets stressed'' about schoolwork. ''But I've been conditioned.''

His parents lament the lack of downtime for John and his younger brother, Matt, a junior at Glen Ridge and a more industrious student. They worry that mandatory assignments replace pleasure reading. They resent having to nag the boys. But they recognize that they, like other parents of their ilk, want their children to be competitive at the nation's top colleges, their high school to rank among the best and their real estate values to reflect a first-rate school system.

''It all feeds on itself,'' said John's father, Steve, an environmental compliance officer for New Jersey Transit.

Both the Glen Ridge superintendent and the president of the Board of Education are gung-ho about their summer curriculum, which they credit for the district's unusually high scores on Advanced Placement tests, which determine whether a student will get college credit for the course. Daniel Fishbein, the superintendent, notes that A.P. classes are electives, and says that students deserve the best opportunity to be successful on the tests and that it is ''unfair to make them do it between Labor Day and April 30.'' (The school year starts later in the Northeast than elsewhere, so students have less time to prepare for the exams, which are given nationwide in May.)

Elisabeth Ginsberg, president of the board, said that Glen Ridge was a ''school system that delivers'' and ''expects the best-of-the-best to stretch themselves.'' She added that work done now ''paces the load better'' during the regular school year.

In Glen Ridge, with a population of 7,271, a median household income of $105,638 and property taxes that commonly top $20,000, summer schedules are already crowded with extracurricular activities. Many of the same students racing, say, to finish ''Sarum'' by Edward Rutherfurd for honors English are also tuning up their instruments at a weeklong camp required for the band or preparing for field hockey or football season with two-a-day workouts.

Etta Kralovec, co-author of ''The End of Homework'' (Beacon Press, 2000), questions these priorities. ''Better the schools should tell the athletes to work out on their own the last two weeks in August and pay to bring back the A.P. teachers,'' she said. ''Holding kids to higher standards and then telling the families they need to bear the burden of that achievement is school reform on the cheap. We need to examine whether summer vacation needs to be shortened.''

In practical terms, it already has been for many students, including Ana Aldea, a contender for valedictorian at Glen Ridge High School.

''Summer is over,'' the girl said glumly. ''School already began for me. I guess this prepares us for college better. At least the workload won't be a surprise. But through the years, it's gotten worse and worse. The teachers, the coaches -- it's insane. They need to set a limit.''

Amanda Kelly shares most of her Advanced Placement classes with Ana, a fellow senior, and until this summer they also played field hockey together. But Ana dropped the sport to focus on her first-semester grades and an early-decision application to the University of Pennsylvania. She cut short a trip to her native country, Romania, to finish her summer assignments and has been hitting the books seven hours a day since mid-August.

Amanda, whose mother guesses that she studied at least 100 hours this summer, has been on the hockey field four hours a day since Aug. 19. She is a diligent girl. Despite a month at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey for a summer program, a week at field hockey camp and 10 days on a family vacation in California, Amanda has completed the most daunting of her assignments, reading and keeping a journal about ''Jane Eyre.''

In neat girlish hand, page numbers in the margin, she produced a 26-page log of her observations on the 433-page book. Then she turned her attention to ''Trinity,'' calculus, chemistry and French.

''Some is fine,'' said Kathleen Kelly, Amanda's mother. ''Otherwise the kids might just vegetate. But this is over the top.''

Then she pulled the September issue of New Jersey magazine from a stack of mail and turned eagerly to the school rankings and Glen Ridge's exalted place. ''Have you heard we're No. 3 again?'' she asked. ''Maybe it's worth it.''

KIDS & FAMILY READING REPORT

The summer reading imperative.

"SUMMER PRESENTS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES TO PLAY AN ACTIVE ROLE IN ENSURING ALL CHILDREN CAN FIND THEIR STORY AND ENJOY THE BENEFITS OF SUMMER READING."

— Deimosa Webber-Bey, Scholastic Senior Librarian & Manager, Library Services

A SUMMER READING AWARENESS GAP FOR PARENTS

At first glance, parents seem aware of the importance of summer reading, as 94% agree reading over the summer can help their child during the school year. And yet, nearly half of parents with school-age children are unaware of the “summer slide” (47%), the loss of academic skills that occurs when school is not in session and which is attributed largely to the lack of reading. This is of critical importance as the effects of the summer slide are cumulative. Researchers estimate that by the time a struggling reader reaches middle school, summer reading loss has accumulated to a two-year lag in reading achievement 1 . A case can be made that we can begin to address this contributing factor to the reading achievement gap by addressing an information gap. The Kids & Family Reading Report reveals that when parents are aware of the summer slide, both children and parents are more engaged in summer reading.

It’s encouraging that awareness of the summer slide has increased five points since 2016 (48% vs. 53%). However, there are significant disparities around awareness among certain subsets. Similar to other reading habit trends, parents of frequent readers (kids who read books for fun 5–7 days a week) are far more likely to have the summer slide on their radar than are parents of infrequent readers (kids who read for fun less than one day a week). Lower-income families, as was the case in 2016, remain less likely to be aware (See figure 1) . This is of notable concern as the summer slide is a primary contributor to the reading achievement gap between lower- and higher-income students 2 . What's more, out-of-school experiences, particularly unequal summer learning during early formative years, have been shown to account for the majority of achievement differences among socio-economic statuses by the time students reach ninth grade 3 . All heightening a need for greater communication around summer reading for lower-income families.

Click Here for High Resolution Image  

1 Alexander, K. L., Entwisle, D. R., & Olson, L. S. (2007). Lasting consequences of the summer learning gap. American Sociological Review , 72(2), 167–180.; Cooper, H., Charlton, K., Valentine, J. C., & Muhlenbruck, L. (2000). Making the Most of Summer School: A Meta-Analytic and Narrative Review. Society for Research in Child Development , vol. 65, no. 1. Allington, R. L., & McGill-Franzen, A. M. (2003). The impact of summer setback on the reading achievement gap. Phi Delta Kappan , 85(1), 68–75.

2 National Summer Learning Association, (2017). State of summer learning: 2017 state policy snapshot.

3 Alexander, K. L., Entwisle, D. R., & Olson, L. S. (2007). Lasting consequences of the summer learning gap. American Sociological Review , 72(2), 167–180.

SUMMER READING TRENDS TO WATCH AMONG KIDS

Most kids know that summer reading provides benefits that extend well past the summer months. Seventy-seven percent agree that reading over the summer will help them during the school year and on average, kids read nine books in the summer of 2018.

Where the significant concern lies, is in the number of kids who do not read any books at all over their summer breaks (See figure 2a) . Thirty-two percent of kids ages 15–17 said the number of books they read over the summer was zero, up sharply since 2016 (22%). The trend line among kids ages 9–11 also needs to be watched: the percentage who read zero books over the summer has doubled since 2016 (7% to 14%). Notably, if a parent is aware of the summer slide, their child is less likely to read zero books over the summer (16% vs. 25%).

Click Here for High Resolution Image

As with many trends found in the Kids & Family Reading Report , the number of books read over the summer varies widely by age (See figure 2b) : kids ages 6–8 read an average of 19 books; that number drops to nine among 9–11s, six among 12–14s and two among 15–17s. Some of the decline in the number of books read can be attributed to the length of books kids are reading increasing as children grow older. Nonetheless, the trend line is troubling.

Frequent readers are by far the most active readers over the summer months, reading an average of 21 books vs. only two among infrequent readers. This difference is largely due to the high percentage of infrequent readers who do not read any books at all during the summer: 46% of infrequent readers ages 6–11 and 52% ages 12–17 read zero books over the summer.  

And knowing that frequent readers are far more likely than infrequent readers to have books in their homes (139 vs. 74 books on average), access during the summer is undoubtedly a factor.

BOOK ACCESS DIMINISHES DURING THE SUMMER

Kids identify schools and public libraries as the main sources for most of the books they read for fun. With 53% of kids getting access to books through school and 50% getting them from the public library, it is no surprise that the vast majority of parents believe that every child needs to have a school library (95%) and every community needs to have a public library (95%) (See figure 3a/b) . Even a new mother shared her appreciation for libraries, saying, “ I want to borrow books from the library and attend story hour and learning events when she is older. ” Yet in most cases, school-related points of access are the least available over the summer. Research on book deserts—areas with a stark lack of access to print materials—showed in the studied urban areas that the summer months drastically limit book access in high-poverty neighborhoods 4 .

The Teacher & Principal School Report 5 , a companion study to the Kids & Family Reading Report , found that the vast majority (96%) of teachers, principals and school librarians say that providing year-round access to books at home is important to enhancing student achievement. An example of how taking an active role in this can lead to results was displayed recently in two district-wide initiatives that provided books and family literacy nights to K–6 students and families over the summer. Research conducted by Scholastic Research & Validation revealed that this approach was associated with students maintaining or increasing literacy skills while school was out. Specifically, 78% of students in one district maintained or increased their reading levels from spring to fall; in the second district fewer struggling readers (21% vs. 30%) and fewer advanced readers (34% vs. 43%) experienced summer reading loss when they had access to these resources before the start of summer 6 .

4 Neuman, S. B., & Moland, N. (2019). Book Deserts: The Consequences of Income Segregation on Children’s Access to Print. Urban Education , 54(1), 126–147

5 scholastic.com/teacherprincipalreport

6 Scholastic Research & Validation. (2018). Empowering students and families to address summer reading loss in Greenville, SC and Stoughton, MA 2017. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.  

SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITIES CAN BE A BRIDGE FOR SUMMER READING

Bringing schools, communities and families together is a powerful combination to support summer reading. First and foremost, schools are the top source of information on the summer slide, with 59% of parents who are aware of the summer slide citing their child’s teacher, or school in general, as providing information on the topic. News media is the number two source, coming in at a distant 24%.

In the Scholastic Research & Validation research referenced earlier 7 , providing K–6 students and their families with increased access to books and learning opportunities over the summer displayed positive impacts among families. The research highlighted that in the two participating districts, 95% and 85% of families agreed that the Family Reading Night was valuable in learning how to support their children’s reading. Additional supportive findings include: 60% of families agree they learned ways to talk to their children about books and 94% of families agree the Family Reading Night was a great way to connect families and schools.

Yet only some families are benefiting from school and community literacy events. Data from the Kids & Family Reading Report reveal about four in 10 (39%) parents say their school or community has hosted a reading event in the past few years and two in three of these parents say the event was attended by their child (64%) or themselves (37%). Many of these events likely take place during the school year, diminishing parents’ access to support around literacy over the summer. Since half of kids and two-thirds of parents agree that they like going to events involving reading (See figure 4) , communities have an opportunity to come together to help foster summer reading. Similar to the trends observed in reading frequency, enjoyment and importance in the Kids & Family Reading Report: Finding Their Story , enjoyment of these events diminishes as kids age, from a high of 72% among children ages 6–8 to a low of 29% among children ages 15–17. Parent interest, however, remains relatively high across children’s ages at 75% among parents of kids ages 6–8 and about six in 10 among parents of both 12–14 and 15–17 year-olds.

"I enjoy losing myself in a good book. I love visiting faraway lands and meeting characters."  —14-year-old girl   

7 Scholastic Research & Validation. (2018). Empowering students and families to address summer reading loss in Greenville, SC and Stoughton, MA 2017. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.  

AT HOME, PARENTS FOCUS ON BOOK ACCESS TO SUPPORT SUMMER READING

To better understand reading behavior among kids and their parents when school is out, the Kids & Family Reading Report probed the different strategies parents use to encourage summer reading at home. Notably, the top three all centered on creating book access and choice for the child: taking trips to public libraries ranked first (54%), followed by ordering from school book clubs or book fairs (42%) and taking books on road trips or vacations (42%). Parents also reported putting limits on screen time (40%), finding new book series (36%) and purposefully making reading part of the summertime daily routine (30%), with fairly significant variation across ages of children. As one 14-year-old boy noted, “Reading for fun is a habit now. I enjoy reading and learning about different things. This summer I read less, because of football, but my mom made sure we went to the library before practice.”

Parents who are aware of the summer slide are more likely to engage in nearly all activities to encourage their children to read while school is out (See figure 5) . And a peer-reviewed study—published by the American Library Association in 2017 and centered on the effect of summer program participation among fourth grade students in North Carolina—found that if parents understand the summer slide, they prioritize transportation to the library to facilitate summer reading 8 .

8 Becnel, K., Moeller, R. A., & Matzen, N. J. (2017). “Somebody Signed Me Up”: North Carolina Fourth-Graders’ Perceptions of Summer Reading Programs. Children & Libraries: The Journal of the Association for Library Service to Children , 15(3), 3–8.  

THE POWER OF CHOICE DRIVES KIDS’ ENJOYMENT OF SUMMER READING

Counter to conventional thought, the view that summer reading is a chore is not shared by a majority of kids today. More than half (59%) of all kids ages 6–17 say “I really enjoy reading books over the summer” (See figure 6) . Perhaps unsurprisingly, given other patterns observed throughout the findings of the Kids & Family Reading Report , younger children and frequent readers are more likely than teens and infrequent readers to enjoy reading books over the summer. Additionally, kids whose parents are aware of the summer slide also feel more positively about summer reading. 

When given the opportunity, kids believe participating in a summer reading program prompts them to read more. Twenty-two percent of kids told us that they participated in a summer reading program or contest and 65% said their participation resulted in reading more than they otherwise would have. Yet this opportunity was not afforded to all children: half said they didn’t know of any summer reading program in which they could have participated.

Regardless of access to summer reading programs, frequency of reading books for fun, or whether a child is entering their early elementary years or is a rising senior in high school, the top reasons kids enjoy summer reading remain the same: it’s about the power to choose their books and read whatever and whenever they want (70%), to have an enjoyable way to pass the time (53%) and, in a nod to the savviness of kids, they want to keep their brains active (52%), and they know reading books can deliver on this.

THE RISE OF READ-ALOUD

•  More parents are reading aloud to their young children

•  The family read-aloud experience is overwhelmingly positive

•  Read-Aloud frequency diminishes rapidly as children grow older

•  How to make read-aloud fit in, regardless of age

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Should Summer Reading Be Required?

May 21, 2021.

Reading is fun! But should it be required? Many kids are assigned books to read over the summer. Some people say summer reading keeps kids’ minds sharp. Others say kids need a break. TIME for Kids readers weigh in.

You’re on break. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t learn. Books can teach you anything and everything. You can learn new words or get inspired to create your own book! —Alexandra Kotsinis, 10, Westfield, New Jersey

Summer vacation is usually three months long. This means there is a long learning gap before the next school year. This time can be used to read. And it can prevent learning loss. —Simran Adnani, 7, Troy, Michigan

Yes, summer reading should be required. It’s something fun that can replace screen time. —Kauther Haque, 10, Milton, Ontario, Canada

If summer reading is not required, more kids will spend their time playing outside. This is a very healthy lifestyle to develop. —Aahil Bhagyaraj, 10, Chattanooga, Tennessee

We already have nine months of reading in school. Why do we have to read during our three months of freedom? —Ansley MacLeod, 11, Denver, Colorado

Summertime is a time for kids to relax, go outside, and enjoy just being a kid. —Pallavi Shah, 11, Scotch Plains, New Jersey

Kids have activities planned for the summer, such as camp. So they won’t have time for extra reading. —Naftali Bochner, 10, Bronx, New York

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• Fri. Apr 19th, 2024

Should summer reading be required?

By the bradford.

By Dillon Hourican ’18, Executive Business and Managing Editor

A study conducted by the Department of Education and the National Institute of Literacy yielded that thirty two million adults in the United States cannot read, which accounts for fourteen percent of the American population. To make matters worse, twenty one percent of adults read below the level expected of a fifth grade student.

In an effort to reduce the number of illiterate adults in America, the vast majority of schools issue summer reading for students of all ages. Elementary school teachers estimate that they spend several weeks of the school year teaching reading skills students lost over the duration of the summer.

“Summer reading is important because students need to be involved  with critical reading and analysing something that has value,” said esteemed English teacher Craig Mustard.

Although summer reading is a mundane task of which completion is mandated before the school year commences, I do believe that summer reading is a necessary aspect of the high school experience.

As dull as it is, each year I find myself sitting down at my desk in the first week of August when the commencement of the following school year seems around the corner. I open the book I bought before the previous school year ended out of the irrational fear that the book mysteriously might become unavailable later in the summer.

Withall, I do not believe summer reading should cease to exist as part of the high school experience. Although completing the summer reading itself is a mundane process to say the least, summer reading aptly prepares students for the challenges they will face in the coming year.

Mustard also raved about the value that 1984 , the summer reading requirement for incoming juniors, plays an important role in the launch of the new school year. Mustard spends a significant amount of time each year discussing the book in class due to its “tremendous value.”

The first assignment in Mr. Mustard’s honors English class freshman year required students to write an in class essay thematically connecting the required text, Unbroken, to a supplementary text chosen by the student. This assignment was fewer points than essays written later in the first quarter.

The summer reading paper enabled students to assess the grading styles of their new teachers on a lower stakes assignment than a traditional essay. The essay also helped me develop critical thinking skills needed for later in the year. For the assignment I had to find a common theme in Unbroken and America Again Re-Becoming the Greatness we Never Weren’t.

America Again Re-Becoming the Greatness we Never Weren’t  is a humorous satirical novel written by comedian Stephen Colbert.  The novel has no plot and a book of criticisms of America starkly contrasts a book about a war hero. Having related the two novels on the common ground of theme helped me prepare for assignments later in the year.

Despite the fact that summer reading is a dull aspect of each summer, it helps students hit the ground running after a two month vacation and establishes the standards for the year to come. Removing summer reading as commonplace at the high school could cause students’ term one grades to decrease, since they would not have as much time to get back into the groove of the school year or learn the expectations of their new teachers

• The Bradford

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• Last updated on: March 10, 2023

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You are excited about summer. Finally, you can rest and enjoy yourself away from school. You begin thinking about your plans for summer vacation. However, you remember your summer vacation homework. You began to question what happens if you don’t do your summer homework. While you may think it is unfair to do your summer homework, some teachers assign tasks for the students to accomplish. It is to give the students enough time to finish the tasks.

Unfortunately, some students must pay more attention to their duties and responsibilities during summer break. In this article, let us find out if it is okay to miss your summer homework. If not, let us discover the possible consequences. This way, you will be aware of what will happen if you fail to submit your summer homework.

Is Summer Homework Mandatory?

You may feel sad about the answer to this question. Most teachers believe that when students continue their homework during summer, it will be easier for them to learn new topics in the new school year. But summer assignment is mandatory, particularly for students taking AP classes and part of honor classes.

For the teachers, summertime is the best time for the students to continue learning, even during the break. It will keep the students busy. It will also serve as a preparation for the upcoming school year.

Why are There Summer Assignments?

Before you complain, you should find out why there are summer assignments. During summer, there is a chance that students will feel relaxed that they won’t even open one page of their books and read. That’s why schools oblige students to have some reading and other assignments, even if it is summertime. The following are the possible reasons why:

Learning should be continuous.

Schools follow the principle that learning should not stop. Homework will not prevent you from enjoying your summer break but will also not excuse you from doing your summer reading task. It will help if you continue reading and doing your tasks so that learning will not stop.

Practice makes one perfect.

When you continue to do your summer homework, you also continue to practice your knowledge and skills. In this way, you will continue to improve, whether in the arts, sciences, or music. If you stop, there is a tendency that you will also hamper the growth of your skills and knowledge.

Research has proven its effects.

According to sociologist Karl Anderson from John Hopkins, that research proves that students tend to relax during summer break. He referred to this event as the “summer slide.” There should be a systematic way of incorporating learning through summer homework and reading, even during the break.

It has prepared the students.

It will prepare the students when they return to school. Since the students have already read and done their homework in advance, they become ready for the next school year. Thus, it will be easy for them to adjust even to the new lessons.

It helps the teachers.

The reading and advanced summer homework will help the teacher evaluate the incoming students’ strengths and weaknesses. When the data is complete, the teacher will also know which part of the lessons needs reinforcement. The teacher will also be able to determine the right strategies to use to improve their teaching.

It ensures success.

Those students who choose to do their summer homework have higher chances of passing rates on Literature and Language AP. These students excel more in class than those who fail to do their summer tasks.

Since it is legal to provide summer homework to students, there are also some consequences if you fail to submit your homework on the deadline. Let us know these consequences to ensure that you comply with the requirements. Thereby, it prevents you from having problems later on.

Your grades will suffer.

It might be the first consequence if you will not submit your summer homework. You will not be able to maintain you’re A+ grade. You may even get an A- or lower. If you are part of the honor class, this may be a significant loss for you. If you are in an AP class , this may affect your overall academic performance. If you want to avoid this, you should learn how to comply with all your summer requirements.

Your scholarship may be at stake.

If you have the scholarship to maintain, not doing your summer homework can affect your status. It will have a tremendous financial impact on you and your parents. You must meet the required grades and GPA to retain your scholarship.

You may get suspended.

The worst consequence you may encounter is suspension from the school administrator. It may happen if most of the tasks still need to be completed and you keep repeating the same mistakes.

It will show on your transcript.

When your grades are affected, they will show in your transcript of record. It will also affect your college admission in the future since the enrollment officer will base it on your transcript of record. If you want an impressive record, you better do your summer homework.

5 Tips to Finish Your Summer Homework

Having summer homework should be easy for you. Before you complain, check out these tips to help you finish your tasks on time.

Setting your mind can do a lot of wonders.

The right mindset can do magic. Initially, it would help if you think positively. If you think doing summer homework is a burden, it will be a burden. However, if you consider it an advantage for your learning and improvement, you will enjoy its benefits. Think about its positive effects on you and your knowledge and skills. It would help if you focused on the end goal and the positive outcomes rather than on how challenging it is for you.

Being organized is the key.

Bring out cute stationery such as colorful sticky notes, attractive highlighters, and clean planners. You may even set up a tremendous and beautiful workspace at home. Consider the Nordic or minimalist design. Why is this important? A good workspace will motivate you to study and do your homework .

Use your planner and to-do list. By doing this, you will be guided on the things you need to accomplish first. It will also guide you on how many days are left before your homework deadline. Thus, it will make you more systematic, ensuring that you submit your work on time.

You can list your tasks and categorize them from more accessible to more complicated or vice versa. It depends on you. You can start with the most boring one, quickly eliminate them, and then proceed to the most exciting subject for you. In this way, you will feel more motivated to work.

Set a daily goal.

One of the reasons why many students need more time to finish their work is because they feel overwhelmed with the tasks. Take it one step at a time. You may work slowly by surely. You will feel motivated once you finish one task by setting a daily goal. You don’t have to be too harsh on yourself. Once you are done with your daily goal, remember to reward yourself. You can still enjoy a summer break after you have finished your daily task.

You can download a countdown app on your phone, so you will know how many days are left before summer ends. It will be easier and more automatic for you.

Avoid any distractions.

It would be best if you could not hold your phone and other gadgets while studying. You may be tempted to scan your social media account, which will waste your time. You may also watch YouTube or TikTok videos and need help reading your notes. As much as possible, choose a time when you can study without distraction. It can be before sleeping, or you wake up early in the morning.

More brain is better than one.

Study with your friends. You can invite them to your home and do your homework together. It can be fun. At the same time, you can be productive. Just ensure your time is well spent on your homework, and you will not be distracted by chitchats and other unnecessary activities. You and your friends should have common goals together. One should not influence others not to do the homework.

Wrapping Things Up: What Happens if You Don’t Do Your Summer Homework?

You have read what happens if you don’t do your summer homework. It will give you consequences like low grades that can affect your scholarship, transcript of records, and, eventually, your college admission. The worst consequence is being suspended because of not complying with your summer homework.

Enjoying this article? Get our 137-page guide to doing well in high school here.

However, there are also some tips that you can do to make your summer worthwhile while accomplishing all your homework. Lastly, consider the advantages you will experience when you obediently comply with all your summer tasks. All your sacrifices will pay off.

Professor Conquer

Professor Conquer started Conquer Your Exam in 2018 to help students feel more confident and better prepared for their tough tests. Prof excelled in high school, graduating top of his class and receiving admissions into several Ivy League and top 15 schools. He has helped many students through the years tutoring and mentoring K-12, consulting seniors through the college admissions process, and writing extensive how-to guides for school.

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Trump's criminal trial, a first for a former president, has begun in New York

Ximena Bustillo

Former President Donald Trump appears with his legal team ahead of the start of jury selection Monday at Manhattan criminal court. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. Jabin Botsford/Pool/Getty Images hide caption

Former President Donald Trump appears with his legal team ahead of the start of jury selection Monday at Manhattan criminal court. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial.

NEW YORK — Jury selection began Monday in Manhattan criminal court for Donald Trump's hush-money trial — the first time in U.S. history a former president is being tried on criminal charges.

More than half of prospective jurors in the first panel of 96 people were excused after saying they could not be fair and impartial.

An 18-person jury selection is expected to take several days and the trial is expected to last about six weeks — even as Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, campaigns to be president once again.

Trump faces 34 felony counts alleging that he falsified New York business records in order to conceal damaging information to influence the 2016 presidential election.

To start the day in court Monday, the parties debated potential evidence and whether Trump has violated a gag order.

The judge overseeing the case, Juan Merchan, had issued a gag order on Trump that specifically bars him from making, or directing others to make, public statements about witnesses, prosecutors or jurors. He later extended the order to cover the families of those people after Trump went after the judge's daughter by name on the former president's social media site.

Merchan said he will hold a hearing on April 23 about the prosecution's request to have Trump held in contempt of the gag order for several social media posts about potential witnesses in the case.

Here are the 42 questions on the juror questionnaire in Trump's hush money case

N.Y. judge issues a limited gag order on Trump ahead of hush money trial

"trump wants to be present at everything".

Arriving to the courtroom Monday, Trump reiterated his complaint that the case is political persecution.

"This is a persecution like never before," he told reporters. "It's an assault on America and that's why I am very proud to be here, this is an assault on our country."

To the extent possible, Trump plans to be involved in court conferences and the jury selection process, defense attorney Todd Blanche said Monday.

"President Trump wants to be present at everything," Blanche said.

Merchan warned that if Trump disrupts the proceeding, he could be jailed, with the trial continuing in his absence.

The trial comes just months before the presidential election in November. Most polls show Trump in a tight race with President Biden, his successor to the presidency. Trump must balance his legal troubles — he faces dozens of state and federal charges — with the election cycle, though his predicament hasn't dampened enthusiasm for him among his most ardent supporters.

Trump's other major trials — related to his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, his handling of classified documents and alleged election interference in Georgia — are in various stages of delay, and it is unlikely that a verdict in any of them will come before the election.

A decision in the New York criminal case could come by summer of this year.

If convicted this year, Trump could lose the right to vote for himself

At the same time, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments later this month on whether Trump enjoys blanket immunity for his actions as president, and what it decides could have ramifications for the presidency.

The district attorney hopes to make this case about 2016 election interference

A grand jury indicted Trump in the spring of last year , marking the first time a former or sitting president faced criminal charges. Republicans quickly dismissed the indictment as an overreach of power by District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who had brought the charges. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

At the center of the trial are 11 "hush money" payments to adult film actor Stormy Daniels who, at the time Trump was first running for president, threatened to go public with accusations she'd had an affair with him not long after he married Melania Trump.

The lawsuit alleges that payments were made from Trump's flagship Trump Organization to Michael Cohen, then a vice president and counsel at the company. The payments were described by the Trump Organization falsely as "legal retainers"; they were, in fact, reimbursements to Cohen for paying Daniels.

Cohen transferred that money to Daniels less than two weeks before the 2016 election. After Trump won, he reimbursed Cohen, including with his own personal checks. Trump has denied an affair with Daniels, but in 2018 he admitted reimbursing Cohen for money paid to her , arguing it had nothing to do with the campaign.

The indictment also includes a separate $150,000 payment to another woman — the Playboy model Karen McDougal, who has spoken openly about her experience — who also claimed to have had an intimate relationship with Trump.

The fact of the payments and the false records isn't in dispute. What Bragg has to prove is that Trump made them in order to further other crimes, such as violating campaign finance law and mischaracterizing the payments for tax purposes.

In 2018, Cohen admitted to paying Daniels $130,000 — pleading guilty to eight counts including criminal tax evasion and campaign finance violations — and implicated Trump. At his plea hearing, Cohen said he organized these payments in coordination with and at the direction of then-candidate Trump.

Trump will balance the courtroom and the campaign

Former President Donald Trump at New York State Supreme Court in New York on Feb. 15. Steven Hirsch/Getty Images hide caption

Former President Donald Trump at New York State Supreme Court in New York on Feb. 15.

As he campaigns for the 2024 presidency — with enough delegates to formally claim the Republican nomination — Trump is facing a combined 88 state and federal charges, including several related to his efforts to try to stay in office after he lost the 2020 election to Biden.

This year judges in New York have already ruled against Trump in civil trials: He's been ordered to pay over $355 million for committing business fraud and to pay former columnist E. Jean Carroll $83 million for defamation .

He also faces charges in federal court in Washington related to his role in the Jan. 6 attack and in Florida for his handling of classified documents. He also faces state charges in Georgia over allegations of election interference.

Trump has received his own string of legal victories on all of these cases in the last month. The Florida and Washington cases are delayed until the Supreme Court rules on whether Trump enjoyed broad immunity as president. A judge in Georgia threw out three counts against Trump on the basis that they weren't detailed enough. Prosecutors could appeal the ruling, or go back to a grand jury and indict Trump again with more details. Trump now faces 10 felony counts in the state.

As opposed to his civil trials in Manhattan, where he was not required to attend hearings in person (though he did on several occasions), Trump will be required to spend every day of this criminal trial in the courtroom unless a judge rules otherwise. This puts him in New York nearly every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday for at least the next two months. Speaking to reporters after a pretrial hearing in February, Trump vowed to attend court during the day and attend campaign events at night.

Trump has spent the last several months using stops in New York courthouses as opportunities to speak to the press about the cases, and about his campaign platform. He has baselessly called the trials politically motivated and railed against them at his rallies across the country.

See where the big Trump cases stand in the months leading to the election

His snowballing legal troubles have been used to fundraise for his campaign. There were big spikes in donations around news events related to the cases he's been involved in and court appearances he's made. The largest amount of any single day came when his mugshot was released for his criminal case in Georgia .

Trump's solicitations for donations from his supporters typically label the trials, without evidence, as "witch hunts" and "election interference." Recent Federal Election Committee filings show he isn't raising as much as he previously did during these legal events.

Trump went from raising about $4 million after pleading not guilty to the alleged hush money payments in New York and again after pleading not guilty to election interference charges in Georgia, according to Reuters , to only bringing in $200,000 and $400,000 in November and December following major court appearances in his civil fraud trial, including his first testimony on the witness stand.

For now, his run-ins with the law have not deterred potential voters and in some instances, it has bolstered support for him. However, a conviction may not play well with independent and swing voters.

Although polls generally favor Trump, the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour /Marist poll released last month showed that if Trump were convicted of a crime, Biden opens a 6% point lead, due largely to independent voters.

• election interference
• trump organization
• Donald Trump
• campaign finance
• Stormy Daniels