BALTIMORE, Aug. 20 (AScribe Newswire) -- Johns Hopkins University today released the following expert advisory.
- - - -
WHAT: Back-to-school interview availability with Ron Fairchild, executive director of the Center for Summer Learning at The Johns Hopkins University, about what teachers face as classes are set to resume.
As school is about to start across the country, many teachers will spend the next four to six weeks re-teaching material that students have forgotten over the summer, says Ron Fairchild, executive director of the Center for Summer Learning at The Johns Hopkins University.
During summer, students fall an average of almost 2.6 months behind in math skills, according to the Center for Summer Learning. For low-income children, the slide in reading is particularly harmful: They fall behind an average of two months in reading while their middle-income peers tend to make slight gains. By fifth grade, low-income children can be as much as 2.5 years behind in reading.
High-quality summer learning programs, however, can keep children from falling behind. Consider:
-- In Baltimore, students who participated in Building Educated Leaders for Life (BELL) this summer gained an average of four months of reading and math skills during BELL's six-week program at 12 low-performing elementary schools. About 85 percent of students reached proficient or advanced levels in reading. On average, they moved from the 29th to 40th percentile in reading.
-- In New York City, 82 percent of the students who completed Harlem RBI's summer program showed no learning loss in reading at the end of the summer. In fact, nearly half made up to six months of reading gains by summer's end.
-- In Washington, DC, fifth-graders entered Higher Achievement, an after-school and summer program, with 2.3 grade point averages. After rigorous academics and experiential learning, particularly in the summer, this year's eighth-grade graduates boasted an average 3.8 GPA.
"These students will start the school year better prepared and will be more likely to stay on track academically," says Fairchild. "Summer learning programs help to develop the types of innovative and creative thinking skills needed in the global economy."
ABOUT THE CENTER FOR SUMMER LEARNING
The mission of the Center for Summer Learning is to create high quality summer learning opportunities for all young people. The Center is committed to expanding summer learning opportunities for disadvantaged children and youth as a strategy for closing the achievement gap. Based at The Johns Hopkins University, the Center works to improve program availability and quality, build public support and influence public policy and funding. For more information, visit www.summerlearning.org.
- - - -
CONTACT: Jeanne Johnson, 410-516-6180, jeannejohnson@jhu.edu
Media Contact: See above.
|
|
|
AScribe Newswire distributes news from nonprofit and public sector organizations. We provide direct, immediate access to mainstream national media for 600 colleges, universities, medical centers, public-policy groups and other leading nonprofit organizations.
AScribe transmits news releases directly to newsroom computer systems and desktops of major media organizations via a supremely trusted channel - The Associated Press. We also feed news to major news retrieval database services, online publications and to developers of web sites and Intranets.
And AScribe does it at a cost all organizations, large and small, can afford, a fraction of what corporate newswires charge. Click here to see how we do it