Contrary to myth, summer vacation was not introduced because of farmers. But here’s a more important fact about summer vacation: It’s one of our most baffling and counterproductive educational practices. Teachers call it “summer slide” or “summer learning loss”; the phenomenon of students forgetting how to read, spell and do math over the two month summer break. According to a landmark 1996 review of summer slide research, students can forget up to one month’s of learning over the summer break. “Summer vacation, the longest stretch of non-school time, appears to widen achievement gaps,” it reads.

Source: National Post May 10, 2018 14:19 UTC