Curby Alexander, associate professor of teaching and learning sciences, recently spoke
to The Dallas Morning News about the Dallas Independent School System opening some
schools early to help students who may struggle with the "summer slide.” The article
was syndicated by Yahoo News.
"Bringing students back early can be an effective way of reducing the amount of material they forget over the summer," Alexander said. "Generally, those losses seem to be bigger at the younger grades. That could be because those skills are less solidified when children are younger. In some ways, learning is like running or lifting weights: the longer students are away from it, the bigger the decline. So by shortening the summer break, the district may be able to mitigate some of those declines."
Read the full article in The Dallas Morning News.