Getting Ready for School: Findings and Implications of Summer Loss Prior to Kindergarten Entry

• In Event: 53.065 - School Readiness: Indicators, Predictors, and Effects

Abstract

This paper reports on preliminary findings on preschool children’s summer gain/loss from two very different geographical areas in Michigan—urban and rural— which show strikingly similar trends. While children who have attended Michigan’s state-funded preschools continue to learn during the summer; they experienced significant summer loss in math and letter-word identification. Given the magnitude of math and letter-word gains achieved from program entry to exit in standard points--2.14 (urban) and 2.10 (rural) in math; 3.70 (urban) and 4.41 (rural) in letter-word--summer loss represents 51% -63% of math and 20-22% of letter-word of what the program helped achieved during the preschool year. We discuss pertinent policy implications in light of recent debate on third grade reading

Authors

• Tomoko Wakabayashi, Oakland University

• Fernando Andrade-Adaniya, HighScope Educational Research Foundation

• Zongping Xiang, HighScope Educational Research Foundation

• Beth Hardin, HighScope Educational Research Foundation

• Richard Lower, Michigan Department of Education