Are We Underestimating Summer Learning Loss? Exploring the Necessity of School Calendar Adjustments

• In Event: 29.082 - Roundtable Session 9
  In Roundtable Session: 29.082-17 - Issues in School Assessment

Abstract

We explore whether the absence of date-of-test and start/end date corrections has substantive implications for our understanding of the magnitude, variability, and distribution of summer learning loss across student race/ethnicity groups. On the one hand, given that timing of test-taking and start/end of school year likely differs by geography, and in turn when know that many places in the U.S. remain racially segregated, summer learning loss may be overestimated for some race groups and underestimated for others. On the other hand, it may be the case that the timing of testing is randomly distributed and unrelated to school calendars. If so, future researchers can be less concerned if they do not know when the test was taken.

Authors

• Allison C. Atteberry, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Andrew McEachin, RAND Corporation