Reproducing or Reducing Inequality? The Case of Summer Learning Programs
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53967/cje-rce.5311Keywords:
summer programs, summer learning, achievement gaps, educational stratificationAbstract
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.
References
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,
(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
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Canadian Society for the Study of Education
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The Canadian Journal of Education follows Creative Commons Licencing CC BY-NC-ND.
