Exploring the summer slide in the Netherlands

International Journal of Educational Research, vol. 107, pp. 101746

Abstract

This study considers the existence of a decline of academic skills in the summer – the so-called “summer slide” – in the context of a relatively short, six-week summer holiday. It further proposes that the extent of this decline will be moderated by home-based practice, and that this practice itself is a function of student and context-level factors. To investigate these issues, a pre-post (summer) study on mental arithmetic was conducted in the summer of 2018 among 932 Dutch grade 2 children. The results demonstrate a sizeable summer learning loss, finding a 0.26 s.d. decline in performance post vs pre-summer. The effect is significantly ameliorated through observed practice on an online educational platform (Squla), but not through self-reported practice. In contrast, perceived competence, gender, and socio-economic status correlate with self-reported practice, but not with observed practice. We discuss the implications of these results for existing and future research in the literature.

Authors 4

1. Francette L. Broekman Aachen

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   University of Leiden, The Netherlands

2. Roger Smeets corresponding
   Affiliation as printed

   Squla, The Netherlands

3. Eric Bouwers
   Affiliation as printed

   Grasple, The Netherlands

4. Jessica Taylor Piotrowski

   University of Amsterdam

   Affiliation as printed

   University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands