Evidence Matters: Is the Summer Slide a Slippery Slope?

July 10, 2025

When the school bell rings for the final time signaling the beginning of summer, kids across the country race into the sunshine ready for a break. But some parents and teachers worry that, along with swimming, popsicles, and later bedtimes, summer may bring something less welcome: the summer slide. This phenomenon refers to the learning loss that students may experience during the long summer break, particularly in reading and math.

The summer slide, also known as summer learning loss, has been a topic of conversation in educational circles, particularly since a 1996 landmark study. Claims of one to two months’ worth of loss in academic subject areas often weigh on the minds of those who worry about the widening of existing achievement and opportunity gaps, and parents often find themselves looking for ways to enrich their children’s summer vacations to maintain the gains from the previous academic year.

But researchers’ opinions are mixed on whether the summer slide is real, and if it is, to what extent it affects some students more than others. A 2023 study by researchers at University of Missouri, University of Texas, and Furman University found that some previous findings related to the summer slide were not replicable, even when more recent data was used in analyses. Researchers found that while some tests showed more substantial losses, others did not show any losses at all. Importantly, researchers also found that while some tests showed gaps in growth and variance among students, those changes were not greater during the summer than during the school year. Similarly, researchers at the University of Miami have questioned whether or not learning loss exists in the way it has been portrayed over the years.

Perhaps, then, the greatest opportunities in summer lie not in preventing an inevitable “summer slide,” but rather in helping those students who enter the summer already behind. A 2022 study published in the Journal of Educational Research found that participation in summer programs that included mathematical activities experienced better mathematical achievement outcomes compared to a control group and that this effect was present in both high and low poverty settings. And these types of results exist for programs focused on reading as well. Researchers at the University of Connecticut and Harvard found that students who participated in school- or home-based reading intervention programs in the summer demonstrated significant improvement in multiple reading outcomes and that results were significantly more pronounced for students from low-income families.

And evidence indicates that it’s smart business to ensure that these opportunities continue to exist. As a recent RAND Corporation study demonstrated, high-quality summer learning programs can generate strong returns for students from low-income backgrounds in both academic and behavioral areas, representing a cost-effective strategy for closing existing learning and developmental gaps. Maybe a shift in perspective—from a negative “summer loss” that needs to be prevented to a positive “summer leap” for those students who would benefit most—would allow us to focus efforts and resources in a more effective way.

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Kelly Gregory is the Riley Institute’s Director for Public Education Projects and Partnerships and previously taught for 11 years in South Carolina public schools. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a master’s degree in Special Education. She also holds a National Board certification as an Exceptional Needs Specialist. She can be reached at [email protected].