A look at summer learning loss, curriculum challenges and the Black boys left behind

This time of year is full of back to school events, including free back-to-school haircuts from neighborhood barbers and school supplies from churches, government agencies and community organizations.The return to school is intended to be a time for reacquaintance, where students arrive prepared to learn, and educators are ready to teach. However, in too many cases, students often return to school after summer break academically unprepared.Several studies suggest that summer separation from scholastic instruction contributes significantly to the academic disparity K-12 students face upon their return from vacation.Harvard research maintains that academic decay is more progressive depending on “ethnicity and socioeconomic status.”& The obstacles that negatively impact White students often have a more severe impact on Black students, says the research. The study also noted that “summer reading and math losses are sensitive to income status.”Poor and disadvantaged students experience more considerable summer reading losses than their middle-class counterparts, and all students experience similar losses in math. To explain this finding, scholars have relied on surveys of summer activities, which show that children in poverty have fewer opportunities to practice reading than middle-class children. As a result, socioeconomic gaps in reading are heightened during vacation, suggesting that differences in family...