Fact checked

How Does Summer Vacation Affect a Child's Math Skills?

Brief and Straightforward Guide: How Does Summer Vacation Affect a Child's Math Skills?
Education
2 minutes
How Does Summer Vacation Affect a Child's Math Skills?
Written by:

Some studies suggest that children who get a three-month summer vacation, as is traditional in the United States, lose as much as a month of progress in math skills over their summer vacation. This loss of learning is particularly noticeable among lower-income students, even though they perform equally to their peers during the school year.


More facts about summer vacation:


  • Studies show that low-income students lose more of their reading comprehension skills during summer vacation than middle-income students do. A study at Johns Hopkins University suggested that by ninth grade, about 75 percent of the achievement gap between students from different economic levels could be accounted for by the loss of learning during summer vacation.
  • The New York Board of Regents found that, on average, one month of review is needed at the beginning of every school year to compensate for summer learning loss.
  • A study by the University of Delaware estimated that if U.S. schools added three weeks onto the school year and required 10 minutes of math homework every day during the summer, students' lost progress in math would drop by one-third.


Avoid the summer academic slide with 1:1 online math tutoring sessions. Get started by taking a short quiz followed by a call with our academic coach to custom match the right tutor for your child.

Get started with a custom-matched tutor for your child.

Find your tutor

About the author:

Mike developed his passion for education as a math instructor at Penn State University. He expanded his educational experience launching and running an Executive Education business - training over 100,000 students per year. As the CEO of Learner, Mike focuses on accelerating learning and unleashing the potential of students. 

Latest Articles

All Articles

Mathnasium vs. Sylvan (Which Math Tutoring Service is Better?)

If you're searching for a math tutoring service, here's what you need to know about the tutors, structure, benefits, cost, and more at Sylvan and Mathnasium.

Eye Level vs. Kumon (Which Math Tutoring Platform is Better?)

If you are searching for a math tutoring platform for your child, here’s what you need to know about the pros and cons of Eye Level and Kumon.

Wyzant vs. Varsity Tutors (Which Tutoring Platform is Better?)

If you are searching for a math tutoring platform for your child, here’s what you need to know about the pros and cons of Varsity Tutors and Wyzant.