Abstracts
Abstract
Can summer programs, as remedial supplements to regular schooling, extend learning opportunities and other benefits to disadvantaged students? To frame this question, we compare logics from “social reproduction” and “partial compensation” perspectives, and then apply them to a large mixed method study of four kinds of summer programs in Ontario. Drawing on quantitative data on over 10,000 students and qualitative data from interviews with over 200 teachers and parents, we examined patterns of student recruitment and participation, social valuations, and academic outcomes. We found that all summer programs successfully recruited disadvantaged students without stigmatizing them, and raised their average achievement without widening pre-existing gaps. We interpret these findings as being consistent with the “partial compensation” perspective, and discuss related policy implications that include COVID-19 learning recovery strategies.
Keywords:
- summer programs,
- summer learning,
- achievement gaps,
- educational stratification
Résumé
Les programmes d’été, comme activités complémentaires de rattrapage, peuvent-ils offrir des possibilités d’apprentissage ou d’autres avantages aux élèves défavorisés ? Pour comprendre cette question, nous comparons les logiques des perspectives de « reproduction sociale » et de « compensation partielle », pour les appliquer à une vaste étude mixte portant sur quatre types de programmes d’été offerts en Ontario. À partir de données quantitatives provenant de plus de 10 000 élèves et de données qualitatives issues d’entretiens avec plus de 200 enseignants et parents, nous avons examiné les tendances de recrutement et de participation des élèves, de l’appréciation sociale des programmes et des résultats scolaires. Nous avons constaté que tous les programmes d’été recrutaient bien des élèves défavorisés sans les stigmatiser, et qu’ils étaient associés à des augmentations de leur rendement moyen sans creuser les écarts préexistants. Nous interprétons ces résultats comme soutenant la perspective de « compensation partielle » et discutons des implications politiques connexes.
Mots-clés :
- programmes d’été,
- apprentissage d’été,
- écarts de réussite,
- stratification scolaire
Appendices
Bibliography
- Alexander, K., Entwisle, D., & Olson, L. (2007). Lasting consequences of the summer learning gap. American Sociological Review, 72(2), 167−180. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F000312240707200202
- Alexander, K., Pitcock S., & Boulay, M. (Eds). (2016). The summer slide: What we know and can do about summer learning loss. Teachers College Press.
- Atteberry, A., & Mangan, D. (2020). The sensitivity of teacher value-added scores to the use of fall or spring test scores. Educational Researcher, 49(5), 335−349. https://doi.org/10.3102%2F0013189X20922993
- Atteberry, A., & McEachin, A. (2021). School’s out: The role of summers in understanding achievement disparities. American Educational Research Journal, 58(2), 239–282. https://doi.org/10.3102%2F0002831220937285
- Aurini, J., & Davies, S. (2010). Summer literacy learning report 2010. Council of Ontario Directors of Education. http://www.ontariodirectors.ca/summer_literacy.html
- Aurini, J., & Davies, S. (2011). Summer literacy learning report 2011. Council of Ontario Directors of Education. http://www.ontariodirectors.ca/summer_literacy.html
- Aurini, J., & Davies, S. (2012). Summer literacy learning report 2012. Council of Ontario Directors of Education. http://www.ontariodirectors.ca/summer_literacy.html
- Aurini, J., & Davies, S. (2013). Summer literacy learning report 2013. Council of Ontario Directors of Education. http://www.ontariodirectors.ca/summer_literacy.html
- Aurini, J., & Davies, S. (2021). COVID-19 school closures and educational achievement gaps in Canada: Lessons from Ontario summer learning research. Canadian Review of Sociology, 58(2), 165–185. https://doi.org/10.1111/cars.12334
- Aurini, J., & Hillier, C. (2018). Re-opening the black box of educational disadvantage: Why we need new answers to old questions. In J. Mehta & S. Davies (Eds.), Education in a new society: Renewing the sociology of education (pp. 309–333). University of Chicago Press.
- Boudon, R. (1974). Education, opportunity and social inequality. Wiley.
- Bourdieu, P., & Passeron, C. (1977). Reproduction in education, society, and culture. SAGE.
- Bowles, S., & Gintis, H. (1976). Schooling in capitalist America. Routledge.
- Bradbury, B., Corak, M., Waldfogel, J., & Washbrook, E. (2015). To many children left behind: The U. S. achievement gap in comparative perspective. Russell Sage Foundation.
- Caro, D. H., McDonald, J. T., & Willms, J. D. (2009). Socio‐economic status and academic achievement trajectories from childhood to adolescence. Canadian Journal of Education, 32(3), 558−590. https://journals.sfu.ca/cje/index.php/cje-rce/article/view/3052
- Carter, P. (2016). Carter comment on Downey and Condron. Sociology of Education, 89(3), 225–226. doi.org/10.1177/0038040716651678
- Cicourel, K., & Kitsuse, J. (1977). The school as a mechanism of social differentiation. In J. Karabel & A. H. Halsey (Eds.), Power and ideology in education. Oxford University Press.
- Clandfield, D., Curtis, B., Galabuzi, G., Gaymes San Vicente, A., Livingstone, D. W., & Smaller, H. (2014). Restacking the deck: Streaming by class, race and gender in Ontario schools. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. https://crpstem.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/restacking-the-deck.pdf
- Coleman, J. S., Campbell, E. Q., Hobson,. C. J., McPartland, J., Mood, A. M., Weinfeld, F. D., & York, R. L. (1966). Equality of educational opportunity [summary report]. National Center for Education Statistics & U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED012275.pdf
- Condron, D. J., Downey, D. B., & Kuhfeld, M. (2021). Schools as refractors: Comparing summertime and school-year skill inequality trajectories. Sociology of Education, 94(4), 316–340. doi.org/10.1177/00380407211041542
- Conwell, J. A. (2021). Diverging disparities: Race, parental income, and children’s math scores, 1960 to 2009. Sociology of Education, 94(2), 124−142. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0038040720963279
- Cooper, H., Charlton, K., Valentine, J., Muhlenbruck, L., & Borman, G. (2000). Making the most of summer school: A meta-analytic and narrative review. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 65(1), 1−127. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3181549
- 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(3), 227−268. doi.org/10.3102/00346543066003227
- Copur-Gencturk, Y., Cimpian, J. R., Lubienski, S. T., & Thacker, I. (2020). Teachers’ bias against the mathematical ability of female, Black, and Hispanic Students. Educational Researcher, 49(1), 30–43. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X19890577
- Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2005). Mixed methods research: Developments, debates, and dilemmas. In R. A. Swanson & E F. Holton (Eds.), Research in organizations: Foundations and methods of inquiry (pp. 315–326). Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
- Davies, S., & Aurini, J. (2013). Summer learning inequality in Ontario. Canadian Public Policy, 30(2), 287–307.
- Davies, S., & Aurini, J. (2021). Estimates of student learning during COVID-19 school disruptions: Canada in international context. In Children and schools during COVID-19 and beyond: Engagement and connection through opportunity (pp. 50−69). Royal Society of Canada. https://rsc-src.ca/en/covid-19-policy-briefing/children-and-schools-during-covid-19-and-beyond-engagement-and-connection
- Demerath, P. (2009). Producing success: The culture of personal advancement in an American high school. University of Chicago Press.
- DeRoche, C. (2015). Labels in education: The role of parents and parental cultural capital in acquiring diagnoses and educational accommodations. Canadian Journal of Education, 38(4), 1−24. https://journals.sfu.ca/cje/index.php/cje-rce/article/view/1870
- Downey, D. (2018). Schools as great distractors: Why socioeconomic-based achievement gaps persist. In J. Mehta & S. Davies (Eds.), Education in a new society: Renewing the sociology of education (pp. 334−344). University of Chicago Press.
- Downey, D., von Hippel, P. T., & Broh, B. A. (2004). Are schools the great equalizer? Cognitive inequality during the summer months and school year. American Sociological Review, 69(5), 613−635. doi.org/10.1177/000312240406900501
- Downey, D., von Hippel, P. T., & Hughes, M. (2008). Are “failing” schools really failing? Using seasonal comparisons to evaluate school effectiveness. Sociology of Education, 81(3), 242−270. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F003804070808100302
- Gershenson, S. (2013). Do summer time-use gaps vary by socioeconomic status? American Educational Research Journal, 50(6), 1219−1248. doi.org/10.3102/0002831213502516
- Gibson, B. L., Rochat, P., Tone, E. B., & Baron, A. S. (2017). Sources of implicit and explicit intergroup bias among African-American children and young adults. PLoS One, 12(9). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0183015
- Gillborn, D. (2015). Intersectionality, critical race theory, and the primacy of racism: Race, class, gender, and disability in education. Qualitative Inquiry, 21(3), 277−287. doi.org/10.1177/1077800414557827
- Hillier, C., & Aurini, J. (2018). The summer reading blues: Children’s accounts of summer literacy practices. In P. Albanese, L. Tepperman, & E. Alexander (Eds.), Reading sociology: Canadian perspectives (3rd ed., pp. 64–68). Oxford University Press.
- Hornstra, L., Dennessen, E., Bakker, J., van den Bergh, L., & Voeten, M. (2010). Teacher attitudes toward dyslexia: Effects on teacher expectations and the academic achievement of students with dyslexia. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 43(6), 515−529. doi.org/10.1177/0022219409355479
- Kim, J. S., & Guryan, J. (2010). The efficacy of a voluntary summer book reading intervention for low-income Latino children from language minority families. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(3), 505−515. https://doi.apa.org/doi/10.1037/a0017270
- Kornrich, S., & Furstenberg, F. (2013). Investing in children: Changes in parental spending on children, 1972 to 2007. Demography, 50(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-012-0146-4
- Kuhfeld, M. (2019). Surprising new evidence on summer learning loss. Phi Delta Kappan, 101, 25−29. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0031721719871560
- Kuhfeld, M., Condron, D. J., & Downey, D. B. (2020). When does inequality grow? A seasonal analysis of racial/ethnic disparities in learning from kindergarten through eighth grade. Educational Researcher, 50(4), 225−238. https://doi.org/10.3102%2F0013189X20977854
- Lareau, A. (2011). Unequal childhoods: Class, race, and family life, second edition with an update a decade later. University of California Press.
- Lynch, K., An, L., & Mancenido, Z. (2021). The impact of summer learning programs on low-income children’s mathematics achievement: A meta-analysis (EdWorkingPaper No. 21-379). Annenberg Institute at Brown University. https://doi.org/10.26300/da7r-4z83
- McCombs, J. S., Augustine, C. H., Pane, J. F., & Schweig, J. (2020). Every summer counts: Alongitudinal analysis of outcomes from the national summer learning project. RAND Corporation. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR3201.html doi.org/10.7249/RR3201
- Ong Dean, C. (2009). Distinguishing disability: Parents, privilege, and special education. University of Chicago Press.
- Parekh, G., Brown, R. S., & Zheng, S. (2018). Learning skills, system equity, and implicit bias within Ontario, Canada. Educational Policy, 35(3), 295–421. doi.org/10.1177/0895904818813303
- Passaretta, G., & Skopek, J. (2021). Does schooling decrease socioeconomic inequality in early achievement? A differential exposure approach. American Sociological Review, 86(6), 1017–1042. doi.org/10.1177/00031224211049188
- Patrinos, H. A., Vegas, E., & Carter-Rau, R. (2022). An analysis of COVID-19 student learning loss (Policy Research Working Paper 10033). World Bank.
- Quinn, D. M., Cooc, N., McIntyre, J., & Gomez, C. J. (2016). Seasonal dynamics of academic achievement inequality by socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity: Updating and extending past research with new national data. Educational Researcher, 45(8), 443−453. https://doi.org/10.3102%2F0013189X16677965
- Rist, R. C. (1977). On understanding the process of schooling: Contributions of labeling theory. In J. Karabel & A. H. Halsey (Eds.), Power and ideology in education (pp. 292−305). Oxford University Press.
- Saldaña, J. (2012). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (3rd ed.). SAGE.
- von Hippel, P. T., & Hamrock, C. (2019). Do test score gaps grow before, during, or between the school years? Measurement artifacts and what we can know in spite of them (SSRN Scholarly Paper No. ID 2745527). Social Science Research Network. doi.org/10.15195/v6.a3
- von Hippel, P. T. , Workman, J., & Downey, D. B. (2018). Inequality in reading and math skills forms mainly before kindergarten: A replication, and partial correction, of “Are schools the great equalizer?” Sociology of Education, 91(4), 323–357. doi.org/10.1177/0038040718801760
- Wineburg, S. (1987). The self-fulfillment of the self-fulfilling prophecy. Educational Researcher, 16(9), 28−37. doi.org/10.3102/0013189X016009028
- Zhao, Y. (2021). Build back better: Avoid the learning loss trap. Prospects. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-021-09544-y