The Effects of Nine-Week Summer Vacation: Losses in Mathematics and Gains in Reading

Manuela Paechter; Silke Luttenberger; Daniel Macher; Florian Berding; Ilona Papousek; Elisabeth M. Weiss; Andreas Fink

doi:10.12973/eurasia.2015.1397a

Manuela Paechter ¹, Silke Luttenberger ¹ ^* , Daniel Macher ¹, Florian Berding ², Ilona Papousek ¹, Elisabeth M. Weiss ¹, Andreas Fink ¹

More Detail

¹ Department of Psychology, Karl-Franzens-University, Graz, Austria² Department of Business Administration, Economics, and Law, Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Background:
Summer vacations interrupt the rhythm of learning and may result in a loss of knowledge and skills.

Materials and methods:
This study investigates summer learning losses in an Austrian sample with nine-week summer vacations. The results show losses as well as gains for students in lower secondary education (182 students between 10 and 12 years old).

Results:
Students experienced losses in arith-metic problem solving (measured by the HAWIK IV intelligence test) and spelling (measured by the Salzburg Reading-Screening, SLS-8), but gains in reading (measured by the standard-ized spelling test HSP 5-9).

Conclusions:
Losses or gains in a knowledge domain appear to depend on the degree of practice during the summer vacation. Contrary to American studies, students could make up for their losses within nine weeks following the re-start of school. In addition, socio-economic variables such as the mother's educational background had a small impact on sum-mer learning losses in arithmetic problem solving.

Keywords

reading
spelling
arithmetic problem solving
summer learning loss

License

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, Volume 11, Issue 6, 2015, 1399-1413

https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1397a

Publication date: 29 Sep 2015

Article Views: 6027

Article Downloads: 3893

Open Access References How to cite this article

References

Alexander, K. L., & Entwisle, D. R. (1996). Schools and children at risk. In A. Booth & F. Dunn (Eds.), Family school links: How do they affect educational outcomes? (pp. 67–89). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Alexander, K. L., Entwisle, D. R., & Olson, L. (2001). Schools, achievement, and inequality: A seasonal perspective. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 23, 171– 191.doi:10.3102/01623737023002171
Alexander, K. L., Entwisle, D. R., & Olson, L. S. (2007). Lasting consequences of the summer learning gap. American Sociological Review, 72, 167–180. doi:10.1177/000312240707200202
Alexander, K. L., Entwisle, D. R., & Olson, L. S. (2012). Schools, achievement and inequality: A seasonal perspective. In G.D. Borman & M. Boulay (Eds.), Summer learning: Research, policy, and programs (pp. 25–51). New York, NY: Routledge.
Allinder, R. M., Fuchs, L. S., Fuchs, D., & Hamlett, C. L. (1992). Effects of summer break on math and spelling performance as a function of grade level. The Elementary School Journal, 92, 451–460. doi:10.1086/461701
Auer, M., Gruber, G., Mayringer, H., & Wimmer, H. (2005). Salzburger Lese-Screening für die Klassenstufen 5-8 [Salzburg Reading-Screening for grades 5 to 8] (SLS 5–8). Bern Göttingen: Verlag Hans Huber.
Banerjee, R. (2011). Is arithmetic useful for the teaching and learning of algebra? Contemporary Education Dialogue, 8(2), 137–159. doi:10.1177/097318491100800202
Becker, M., Stanat, P., Baumert, J., & Lehmann, R. (2008). Lernen ohne Schule: Differentielle Entwicklung der Leseleistungen von Kindern mit und ohne Migrationshintergrund während der Sommerferien [Learning without school: differential development of reading comprehension of immigrant and non-immigrant children over the summer vacation]. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, Special Issue, 48, 252– 276.
bifie – Bundesinstitut für Bildungsforschung, Innovation & Entwicklung des österreichischen Schulwesens (2011). Praxishandbuch für „Mathematik“ 4. Schulstufe [Practical guide for “mathematics” 4th grade]. Graz: Leykam.
Booth, L. R. (1984). Algebra: Children’s strategies and errors. Windsor: NFER-Nelson.
Bormann G. D., & Dowling N. M. (2006) Longitudinal achievement effects of multiyear summer school: Evidence from the teach Baltimore field trial. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 28(1), 25–44. doi:10.3102/01623737028001025
Bruneforth, M., Weber, C., & Bacher, J. (2012). Chancengleichheit und garantiertes Bildungsminimum in Österreich [Equal opportunities and guaranteed minimum in education in Austria]. In B. Herzog-Punzenberger (Ed.), Nationaler Bildungsbericht Österreich 2012. (2nd ed., pp. 189–229). Graz: Leykam.
Coelen, H., & Siewert, J. (2008a). Der Ferieneffekt – auch in Deutschland schichtspezifisch? [Effects of vacations – even in Germany class-specific?] In M. Wagener & J. Ramseger (Eds.), Chancenungleichheit in der Grundschule – Ursachen und Wege aus der Krise. Jahrbuch Grundschulforschung (Band 12, pp. 432–441). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
Coelen, H., & Siewert, J. (2008b). Ferieneffekte [Effects of vacations]. In T. Coelen & H.-U. Otto (Eds.), Grundbegriffe Ganztagsbildung (pp. 411–440). Heidelberg: Springer.
Cohen, J., Cohen, P., West, S. G., & Aiken, L. S. (2003). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Cooper, G., & Sweller, J. (1987). Effects of schema acquisition and rule automation on mathematical problem-solving transfer. Journal of Educational Psychology, 79, 347–362. doi:10.1037//0022-0663.79.4.347
Cooper, H., Nye, B., Charlton, K., Lindsay, J., & Greathouse, S. (1996). The effects of summer vacation on achievement test scores: A narrative and meta-analytic review. Review of Educational Research, 66, 227–268. doi:10.3102/00346543066003227
Cooper, H., Charlton, K., Valentine, J. C., Muhlenbruck, L., & Borman, G. D. (2000). Making the most of summer school: A meta-analytic and narrative review. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 65(1), 1–118.
Cooper, H., Valentine, J. C., Charlton, K., & Melson, A. (2003). The effects of modified school calendars on student achievement and on school and community attitudes. Review of Educational Research, 73(1), 1–52. doi:10.3102/00346543073001001
Downey, D. B., von Hippel, P. T., & Broh, B. (2004). Are schools the great equalizer? Cognitive inequality during the summer months and the school year. American Sociological Review, 69, 613–635. doi:10.1177/000312240406900501
Entwisle, D. R., & Alexander, K. L. (1992). Summer setback: Race, poverty, school composition, an mathematics achievement in the first two years of school. American Sociological Review, 57, 72–84. doi:10.2307/2096145
Entwisle, D. R., & Alexander, K. L. (1994). Winter setback: The racial composition of schools and learning to read. American Sociological Review, 59, 446–460. doi:10.2307/2095943
Gastright, J. F. (1979, September). Summer loss in reading achievement: A comparison of fall to spring reading achievement gains with fall to fall reading achievement gains. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Evaluation Network, Cincinnati, OH.
Gershenson, S. (2013). Do summer-time use gaps vary by socio-economic status? American Educational Research Journal, 50(6), 1219–1248. doi:10.3102/0002831213502516
Grenier, M. A. (1975). An investigation of summer mathematics achievement loss and the fall recovery time (Doctoral dissertation). University of Georgia, GA.
Hawn, H. C., Ellett, C. D., & Des Jardines, L. (1981, March). Differences in mathematics achievement between males and females in Grades 1-3. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Educational Research Association, Philadelphia, PA.
Heyns, B. (1978). Summer learning and the effects of schooling. New York: Academic Press.
Heyns, B. (1987). Schooling and cognitive development: Is there a season for learning. Child Development, 58, 1151–1160. doi:10.2307/1130611
Hußmann, S., Leuders, T., & Prediger, S. (2007). Schülerleistungen verstehen – Diagnose im Alltag [Understanding of students’ performance – diagnostics in every day life]. Praxis der Mathematik in der Schule, 49(15), 1–8.
Jacob, B. A., & Lefgren, L. (2004). Remedial education and student achievement: A regressiondiscontinuity design. Review of Economics and Statistics, 86(1), 226–244.
Jencks, C. (1972). Inequality: A reassessment of the effect of family and schooling in America. New York: Basic Books.
Johns, J. L., & Vacca, R. T. (1984). An inquiry into summer loss in reading: Grades 1 to 7. Reading Horizons, 24, 208–215.
Klibanoff, L. S., & Haggart, S. A. (1981). Summer growth and the effectiveness of summer school (Rep. No. 8). Mountain View, CA: RMC Research Corporation.
Knifka, G. (2008). Deutsch als Zweitsprache lernen im Museum. Einblicke in die Ferienschule der Universität zu Köln [Learning German as a second language in the museum. Insights into the summer school of the University of Cologne]. In A. Ballis & K. H. Spinner (Eds.), Sommerschule, Sommerkurse, Summer Learning (pp. 54–75). Hohengehren: Schneider.
Leßmeister, R. (2008). Jung auf dem Land. Landidylle oder Stadtflair? Sozialraumanalyse zum Freizeitverhalten Jugendlicher im ländlichen Raum [Being young in rural areas. Idyll at the countryside or cityflair? Analysis of social space for leisure activities of young people in rural areas]. In M. May & M. Alisch (Eds.), Praxisforschung im Sozialraum. Fallstudien in ländlichen und urbanen sozialen Räumen (pp. 101–121). Opladen: Budrich.
Lewisch, I. (2009). Mathematik 1. Ferienheft: Fit ins neue Schuljahr [Mathematics 1. Vacation booklet: Fit for the new school year]. Linz: Veritas.
Lindahl, M. (2001, February). Summer Learning and the effect of schooling: Evidence from Sweden. Social Science Research Network: IZA Discussion Paper No. 262. Retrieved from http://ssrn.com/abstract=267194
Linchevski, L., & Livneh, D. (1999). Structure Sense: The relationship between algebraic and numerical contexts. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 40(2), 173–196.
Matsudaira, J. D. (2008). Mandatory summer school and student achievement. Journal of Econometrics, 142(2), 829–850. doi:10.1016/j.jeconom.2007.05.015
Matz, M. (1980). Towards a computational theory of algebraic competence. Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 3(1), 93–166.
May, P., Vieluf, U., & Malitzky, V. (2000). Hamburger Schreibprobe. Diagnose orthographischer Kompetenz. Zur Erfassung der grundlegenden Rechtschreibstrategien [Hamburg spelling test. Diagnostics of orthographic competence and spelling strategies]. Hamburg: Verlag für pädagogische Medien.
Mayringer, H., & Wimmer, H. (2014, August). Salzburger Lese-Screening [Salzburg ReadingScreening]. Retrieved from http://www.eduhi.at/dl/Salzburger_Lesescreening_Handbuch.pdf
McCormick, C., & Mason, J. M. (1981). What happens to kindergarten children's knowledge about reading after a summer vacation? The Reading Teacher, 35, 164–172.
McCombs, J. S., Augustine, C. H., Schwartz, H. L., Bodilly, S. J., McInnis, B., Lichter, D. S., & Brown Cross, A. (2011). Making summer count. Santa Monica, CA: Rand.
McElvancy, N., Becker, M., & Lüdtke, M. (2009). Die Bedeutung familiärer Merkmale für Lesekompetenz, Wortschatz, Lesemotivation und Leseverhalten [Reading literacy and reading motivation: Their development and the mediation of the relationship by reading behavior]. Zeitschrift für Entwicklungspsychologie und Pädagogische Psychologie, 41(3), 121–131. doi:10.1026/0049-8637.41.3.121
Moore, C. (2010). The effects of summer vacation on mathematical knowledge of rural students transitioning from third to fourth Grade. Journal for the Liberal Arts and Sciences, 14(2), 58–66.
NIE – National Institute of Education (1978). Compensatory education study. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
OEMG – Österreichische Mathematische Gesellschaft (2014, November). Mathebrief [Math letter]. Retrieved from http: //www.oemg.ac.at/Mathe–Brief
Pelavin, S. H., & David, J. L. (1977). Evaluating long-term achievement: An analysis of longitudinal data from compensatory education programs (SRI Project No. 4537). Washington DC: Educational Policy Research Center.
Petermann, F., & Petermann, U. (2008). Hamburg-Wechsler-Intelligenztest für Kinder IV [HAWIK IV intelligence test]. Bern: Huber.
Prediger, S., Hußmann, S., Leuders, T., & Barzel, B. (2011). „Erst mal alle auf einen Stand bringen…“ Diagnosegeleitete und individualisierte Aufarbeitung arithmetischen Basiskönnens [„First bringing all to the same level…“ Diagnostics based and individualized reappraisal of basic arithmetic skills]. Pädagogik, 63(5), 20–24.
Romberg, T. A., & Wilson, L. D. (1992). Alignment of tests with the standards. The Arithmetic Teacher, 40(1), 18–23.
Şahin, A. (2004). İlköğretimde tatıl sonrası öğrenme kayıpları [Learning losses after holiday at elementary education]. (Unpublished master's thesis). Amasya University, Turkey. Retrieved from http://acikerisim.aku.edu.tr:8080/xmlui/bitstream/handle/ 123456789/3363/%C5%9Fahin.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Schwantner, U., Toferer, B., & Schreiner, C. (2013). PISA 2012. Internationaler Vergleich von Schülerleistungen. Erste Ergebnisse. Mathematik, Lesen, Naturwissenschaft [PISA 2012. International comparison of students’ performance. First results. Mathematics, reading, science]. Graz: Leykam.
Shaw, V. T. (1982). Retention of selected reading and arithmetic skills by learning disabledpupils and non-disabledpupils over summer vacation (Unpublished master's thesis). California State College, CA.
Siewert, J. (2010). Die Erforschung des Ferieneffekts in Deutschland [Investigation on the effects of summer vacation]. Siegener Studien, 66, 67–103.
Spinner, K. H. (2008). Deutsch lernen im außerschulischen Kontext [Learning german in extra-mural contexts]. In A. Ballis & K. H. Spinner (Eds.), Sommerschule, Sommerkurse, Summer Learning (pp. 7–14). Hohengehren: Schneider.
Stanat, P., Becker, M., Baumert, J. Lüdtke, O., & Eckhardt, A. G. (2012). Improving second language skills of immigrant students: A field trial study evaluating the effects of a summer learning program. Learning and Instruction, 22, 159–170. doi:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2011.10.002
Tzur, R., & Lambert, M. A. (2011). Intermediate participatory stages as zone of proximal development correlate in constructing counting-on: A Plausible Conceptual Source for Children's Transitory “Regress” to Counting-All. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 42(5), 418–450.
Verachtert, P., Van Damme, J., Ongehna, P., & Ghesquiere, P. (2009). A seasonal perspective on school effectiveness: Evidence from a Flemish longitudinal study in kindergarten and first grade. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 20(2), 215–233. doi:10.1080/09243450902883896
Vollrath, H-.J., & Roth, J. (2012). Grundlagen des Mathematikunterrichtens in der Sekundarstufe (2. Aufl.). Heidelberg: Spektrum.
White, W. F. (1908) Reviews before and after vacation. American Education, 10, 185–188.
Wintre, M. G. (1986). Challenging the assumption of generalized academic losses over the summer. Journal of Educational Research, 79, 308–312.
Wisemann, A.W., & Baker, D.P. (2004). The American summer learning gap from an international perspective. In G.D. Bormann & M. Boulay (Eds.), Summer learning. Research, policies, and programs (pp. 55–69). New York, NY: Routledge.

How to cite this article

APA

Paechter, M., Luttenberger, S., Macher, D., Berding, F., Papousek, I., Weiss, E. M., & Fink, A. (2015). The Effects of Nine-Week Summer Vacation: Losses in Mathematics and Gains in Reading. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 11(6), 1399-1413. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1397a

Vancouver

Paechter M, Luttenberger S, Macher D, Berding F, Papousek I, Weiss EM, et al. The Effects of Nine-Week Summer Vacation: Losses in Mathematics and Gains in Reading. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2015;11(6):1399-413. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1397a

AMA

Paechter M, Luttenberger S, Macher D, et al. The Effects of Nine-Week Summer Vacation: Losses in Mathematics and Gains in Reading. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2015;11(6), 1399-1413. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1397a

Chicago

Paechter, Manuela, Silke Luttenberger, Daniel Macher, Florian Berding, Ilona Papousek, Elisabeth M. Weiss, and Andreas Fink. "The Effects of Nine-Week Summer Vacation: Losses in Mathematics and Gains in Reading". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2015 11 no. 6 (2015): 1399-1413. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1397a

Harvard

Paechter, M., Luttenberger, S., Macher, D., Berding, F., Papousek, I., Weiss, E. M., and Fink, A. (2015). The Effects of Nine-Week Summer Vacation: Losses in Mathematics and Gains in Reading. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 11(6), pp. 1399-1413. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1397a

MLA

Paechter, Manuela et al. "The Effects of Nine-Week Summer Vacation: Losses in Mathematics and Gains in Reading". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 11, no. 6, 2015, pp. 1399-1413. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2015.1397a