Abstract:
The term 'summer learning effect' (SLE) is used to describe the situation that often occurs in schools serving low socio-economic status (SES) communities, where achievement plateaus or declines over summer. The effect limits cumulative gains over time and creates a barrier to schools' effectiveness. Although the phenomenon itself is well documented there is little research evidence for how to overcome the effect in local communities. We examined the profile of students' reading losses over summer in low SES schools in New Zealand and found that summer loss is variable across students and classes. We describe the nature of that variability, seeking to identify factors that may make a contribution to overcoming the summer learning effect in reading in low SES schools. Once identified, these factors can form the basis of a locally relevant summer reading programme.