Whole Child Education

Post submitted by Gary Huggins, chief executive officer of whole child partner National Summer Learning Association.

Research has shown that every year, most youth lose about two months of grade-level equivalency in math skills. Low-income youth lose over two months in reading skills. Called the "summer slide," this loss of academic skills disproportionately affects low-income students, contributing to high dropout rates and an ever-persistent academic achievement gap.

But there is evidence that students can avoid this learning loss by attending high-quality summer programs, which help boost student achievement. Three such programs have recently been chosen by the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA) for the 2012 Excellence in Summer Learning Awards: the United Way of Santa Barbara County (Calif.) Fun in the Sun Initiative, Ohio State University's LiFE Sports Camp, and the GO Project of Lower Manhattan in New York. These programs all demonstrate effective strategies in curbing the effects of summer learning loss by offering strong, individualized instruction and engaging activities for students.

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Learning is active, engaging, and social. Students need to be engaged and motivated in their learning before they can apply higher-order creative thinking skills. They are most engaged when they themselves are part of constructing meaning, not when teachers do it for them. By encouraging students to meet challenges creatively, collaborate, and apply critical-thinking skills to real-world, unpredictable situations inside and outside of school, we prepare them for future college, career, and citizenship success.

Join us throughout February as we examine effective classroom instruction that embraces both high standards and accountability for students' learning. It can be project-based, focused on service and the community, experiential, cooperative, expeditionary ... the list goes on. These engaging learning strategies are grounded in instructional objectives, provide clear feedback, and enable students to thrive cognitively, socially, emotionally, and civically.

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