Beware the Summer Slide!
Beware the summer slide! Do I mean to be careful when climbing on the sliding board at the playground? No! I’m talking about the regression in academic skills students can experience over summer vacation. Classroom teachers and reading specialists know all too well that many children enter school in the fall reading a few weeks or months behind where they were functioning when school ended the previous spring. Research confirms this regression, especially with struggling readers, children from families with low socioeconomic status, and youngsters who are learning English as a second language. From a teacher’s point of view, this...