Online learning provides the best approach to learning right now as we get past COVID in the country. The learning slide is a concept well known amongst educators and parents as the inevitable loss of learning that happens every summer. Studies have shown that learning loss results in large setbacks in classroom learning come fall, and accounts for about 30% of a student’s school-year learning.
In some cases, tutoring provides students the immediate opportunity to supplement their coursework through robust study schedules. This year, however, there is greater attention on remedial interventions to target learning gaps to redevelop learning skills and strategies. Though concerning, these strategies make a difference as research has shown that tutoring programs can achieve up to five months of progress through robust tutoring schedules.
We have gathered a list of strategies to mitigate the hurdle of learning loss that will likely occur over the summer.
- Measure End-of-Year Abilities
Take measures of where your child currently stands in his or her academic achievement. We facilitate this by conducting an end-of-the-year assessment. At every grade level, learning outcomes are progressive. Therefore, a ‘test’ will help you discover your child or student’s learning level is, and diagnose any potential gaps.
2. Interpret the Results
Sometimes an end-of-year assessment doesn’t give you the full picture, but it will point you to the areas of weakness. The end-of-year assessment may determine that your child’s mental math abilities at their grade level are not quite where they should be. How do we know this? A child in third grade might not be able to recite all their multiplication facts up to ten, but has no issues with remembering multiplication facts up to seven. Once the gap is identified, remedial interventions can be implemented to get the child up to speed.
3. Targeted Learning
An end-of-year assessment may result in a laundry list of items your child needs to review. The good news is that summer is 8 weeks long and breaking up topics into smaller, digestible lessons can help students learn topics from an introductory level to advanced.
Despite the present challenges of at-home learning, students remain committed to their studies through online tutoring. School closures in March 2020 led all Teaching Gurus locations to move group and one-on-one tutoring online, and we will continue to offer online tutoring through the end of summer.
Click here for more information about our 2021 Summer Catch Up Program.