Year: 2015
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The goal of this research was to determine if there are statistically significant differences in learning between different categories of students apart from the influences of school.The foundational assumption is that student academic achievement is a product of both in-school and out-of-school factors.While there are many breaks from schooling during the calendar year, the largest by far is the summer recess.This study examined student achievement data measured at the end of one school year and then again at the beginning of the next school year.The study took advantage of the natural experiment that arose when the State of Maine changed from assessing students' progress toward meeting the standards of the MLR from the spring administered MEA to the fall administered NECAP.A preliminary analysis revealed that while the MEA and NECAP tests were comparable, they did not yield equivalent test score.Accordingly, a process was used to create equivalent test score calculations.Using these adjusted test scores, MEA and NECAP test scores for Maine elementary students in grades 3-8 were analyzed for both mathematics and reading.The analysis revealed: (1) there was some summer learning loss for both economically advantaged and economically disadvantaged students; (2) summer learning loss was greater for economically disadvantaged students; (3) summer learning loss was less than in other national research; (4) summer learning loss was greater in mathematic than in reading; (5) summer learning loss was greater in mathematics in the earlier grades and in reading in the later elementary grades; and (6) summer learning loss was greatest for students who had demonstrated meeting proficiency by the spring test administration.
Authors: David L. Silvernail, Brian I. Mazjanis
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2549220516