CHAPTER II

RELATED STUDIES AND LITERATURE

Summer program is a schools way of information retention during the long

summer break and other concerns that summer program may be a solution.
Students everyday routine and activities may hinder one to accomplish other
task from misallocation of time due to heavy loads of task to finish. Factors
affecting the effectiveness of summer program were studied and concluded by
the following studies and literatures.
Foreign Studies
Jonathan Wickert, on his study entitled The Effectiveness of Summer
Program for First Time Ninth-Grade Students (2014), concluded that the physical
environment is one of the many factors that affects the students in relation with
their academic capability during the summer class program. This may include the
punctuality of students and teaching methods conducted by instructors. Aside
from the physical factors, social acclimation was also listed, as it promotes the
student-teacher and student-student relationship. He noted that students who
attended were more likely to help other students in need, regardless of whether
they knew them. It ofter form friendships that instructors believe existed before
the program.
During the first year of the summer program, the researcher found out that
the difference between the attendees and the non-attendees were not
significantly different but the summer program was proven to be effective during

the succeeding years. These overall effectiveness of acclimation to transition

environment is measured through changes in academic outcomes of the student.
Hanover

Research reviews

effective

practices

in

summer literacy

programming, entitled Best Practices in Summer Literacy Programs. They

examine methods for improving literacy achievement, identifies structural
components of effective literacy programs, and provides a framework for
program evaluation. It stated that all students are susceptible to summer learning
loss, but lowincome students are at greater risk, especially in reading. Different
rates of summer loss, when repeated annually, contribute to widening
achievement gaps as students enter middle and high school.
Research suggests that high quality academic enrichment programs can
decrease and perhaps eliminate summer learning loss for low income children.
Providing learning opportunities to children is typically viewed as the
responsibility of school districts, but summer programs offered by traditionally
non academic organizations also appear poised to meet the challenge.
Furthermore, research suggests that offering varied reading materials to
children increases their motivation to read. Furthermore, a range of materials is
necessary to ensuring students read appropriately challenging texts. Many
programs have addressed the need for reading materials by creating an onsite
library and/or visiting community libraries.
McCombs, et al. (2011)

the literature on summer learning loss and the

effectiveness of summer learning programs, determines key cost drivers of and

available funds for summer programs, and gathers information about how such
programs operate in district and city contexts, including facilitators and
challenges.
The clear challenge to extending the school year is its cost. In addition, in
cities across the country, districts that have tried to extend the school year (or
modify the calendar) have met resistance from parents, employers of teenagers,
and family recreation businesses. And data suggest that more time was cut
away from the instructional calendar in the 20102011 school year as fiscal
pressures forced school districts to weigh options to furlough teachers or
shorten the instructional calendar. For instance, 16 of the 30 largest school
districts in California reduced the number of school days to bal- ance their
budgets, and 12 districts cut instructional time by the maximum of fve days
(Benefield, 2010; Freedberg, 2010).
Summer programs, the focus of this monograph, are less costly than
extending the school year because they are typically offered only to a subset
of students. Thus,research demonstrates that there are clear differences in the
summer learning rates of low-income and higher-income students. It noted that
comparing the school year to summer break provides an opportunity to
isolate the effects of non- school influences on a young persons intellectual
development. Children from lower-income families lost, on average, more
learning specifically in reading comprehension and word recognition than
children from higher-income families.
These findings are consistent with research showing that families and factors
out- side of school influence reading achievement. Benson and Borman (2010)

also found that low-income students entered school performing roughly one
standard deviation below their higher-income peers. Low-income parents
read with, teach, and talk to their children less frequently, each of which
contributes to childrens literacy skills and school readiness.
Research also suggests that summer learning loss is cumulative. Given that
low-income students are more likely to forget what they have learned,
particularly in reading, than their higher-income

peers (who can gain

knowledge and skills in certain reading areas during the summer months),
repeated episodes of loss result in low-income students falling further and
further behind their more affluent peers.
Research indicates that summer vacation may have detrimental learning
effects for many students. On average, all students lose skills, particularly in
mathematics. How- ever, summer learning loss disproportionately affects lowincome students, particu- larly in reading. While their higher-income peers,
on average, post gains in reading, low-income students show losses at the end
of the summer. Most disturbing is that it appears that summer learning loss is
cumulative and that, over time, these periods of differential learning rates
between low-income and higher-income students contribute substantially to
the achievement gap. It may be that efforts to close the achievement gap
during the school year alone will be unsuccessful.
Given the established connection between academic learning time and
achieve- ment and the findings regarding summer learning losswhich is
particularly acute for low-income studentsit

is reasonable to assume that a

structured program of summer instruction could help mitigate this loss. It

might even produce gains.
In addition, the general learning literature indicates that low-achieving
students need more time to master material and that spacing learning out over
time is an effec- tive instructional technique. Summer programs would provide
these students with this additional, spaced, time. Therefore, summer learning
programs might be a key strategy for improving the academic performance of
struggling students.
On

Chantel

Zwiefelhofers

research

paper,

Using

Progress

Monitoring to Evaluate the Effectiveness o f a Remedial Summer School

Program (2010), research has indicated that the summer break can have
a signifcant impact on skill retention for most students. The purpose of

this study was to examine the effectiveness of a remedial summer school

program for 11 middle school students. Results of this study demonstrated that
the remedial summer school program being evaluated had no effect on
curriculum-based measures of seventh and eighth graders' performance in
reading fluency, no effect on curriculum-based measures of seventh graders'
performance in math computation, and a small effect on curriculum-based
measures of eighth graders' performance in math computation.
Summer school programs have been a popular choice by school
districts

to

help

However, there

address the

is another

with a different solution

year-round

to

issue of summer learning loss.

group of supporters who have come up

summer learning loss.

education strongly believe that

Advocates for

modifcations to the

traditional school

calendar will

loss,

also help

but

it will

not only prevent summer learning

school

districts meet the high

state

standards and accountability measures (Huebener, 2010).

The summer school program that was evaluated consisted of 24
students

and

one

teacher, with additional

support provided

by the

researcher two days a week. Research has indicated that smaller class sizes
are needed to better provide support to students. Another downfall of the
summer school program evaluated was that the instruction was not
individualized

to the needs of the students.

The program consisted of

students who struggled across a variety of academic areas, reason why the
program covered a variety of subjects. However, some students may have
spent excessive time working on academic skills that were adequately
developed, while spending very little time in the areas of need.
have been more effective to

group students

It may

based on their academic

needs, then trying to addresses everything in a short amount of time.

The curriculum and instructional method used was mostly packet
work developed

from textbooks used during the regular school year.

Research has indicated that most of these low performing students were
not able to learn the material the frst time around during the regular
school year; therefore,

the delivery of the information needs to be

different and more engaging for these students. The lack of instruction in
the areas of need appeared to result in greater frustration for students,
resulting in many to act out and refuse to do the work required of them
during the summer program.

Research on the
inconsistent.

effectiveness of summer school

There

are researchers who

programs is

have concluded

that

summer school programs can be successful in helping low achieving

students catch up to
between

their peers,

closing the achievement gap

low-income students and their advantaged

peers,

and

helping students retain academic skills over the summer break.

Due to

the

mixed data on the success

of summer school

programs and because the body of literature on the matter is quite

small, more research needs to be conducted in order to address and
measure student's academic gains relative to completing remedial
programs during the summer break.
This inconsistency can have a great effect on how well a research
studies are able

to actually measure the

impact that the summer

vacation has on students' academic skills.

Future researchers need

to develop studies

that are able to better control

additional academic instruction,

the influence of

or lack of, when determining any

increases or decreases in skills over the summer break.