We are quickly approaching that familiar time of year: the summer break. Although it may have been shortened because of snow days and inclement weather, this is a tradition that school children in America have enjoyed for a little more than a century. For many seniors, in either high school or college, this will be their last summer vacation before they move on the next great chapter of their lives. For academic faculty and staff and the remaining students, this is a well-deserved time off to recharge the batteries.
However, in recent years there has been a re-examination of the American academic calendar. Particularly, as it relates to competitive student performance on the global scale, there is the debate that we are not spending enough time in school. The standard school year in America is 180 days and children in America spend approximately 1,146 instructional hours in the classroom.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is an international organization, comprised of 34 countries, that works to stimulate economic progress and world trade. Every three years they work in tandem with the Program for International Student Assessment. In their most recent study, it measured the performance of 15 year olds of its member nations in Reading, Science, and Math. These results showed that 15 year olds in the United States are not leading the pack. Our scores show that we are ranked 14th in Reading, ranked 17th in Science, and ranked 25th in Math.
Another number that stood out was the 180 days that American children are in school. This shows us to have one of the shortest school years for all the countries tested. I don’t think that eliminating summer vacation would solve all our problems, especially since most research shows that teacher quality is the biggest influencer, but maybe a little more class time could help. From a comparative standpoint, South Korea has 220 days and a number 2 ranking in Math. But Finland has the first place ranking in Math and Science with a school year of 190 days. Is ten extra days keeping us from a first place showdown with Finland?
And while I endorse time off and much-needed breaks, I am also compelled to share some reasons why the summer break slows our children’s educational progress.
1) Kids forget what they been taught. Our brains forget what we don’t use. On average, kids lose about a month of math skills during the summer. Low income children lose as much as three months of reading comprehension. A few studies have suggested that two-thirds of the achievement gap that separates income groups can be attributed to 9th grade summer learning loss.
2) Kids need to be re-taught what they have forgotten. Reteaching forgotten lessons can consume as much as the first month of the fall semester.
3) Kids gain weight. Kids can gain body mass twice as fast during the summer as compared to the school year.
In this age of reduced budgets, I understand that we don’t have the funds to pay teachers for more days, nor do we have money to keep school buildings open all year. However, we have to find a way to step out this box we have been in for the last 100 or more years. Our biggest obstacle is our love for what we are familiar with.
I can remember reading an article about the “space race” of the late 1950s. The Soviet Union was the first country to put an artificial satellite in orbit. Upon feeling the sting of this “defeat”, our political leaders promised to have a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s. As a result of this Sputnik moment, our schools and universities ramped up their curriculum and made our children competitively smarter. During this time, the United States was the dominant country with the better technology.
Are we waiting on another Sputnik moment? What does it take for us to become innovative once more?
FYI – The International Monetary Fund recently reported that China would surpass the United States as the largest economy in 2016. Shanghai, which is China’s most populous city, ranks number one in the OECD education reports.
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