lazy days of summer: a national security...
TRANSCRIPT
Lazy Days of Summer: A National Security Threat?
Retired Military Leaders Warn Lost Summers for
Children Can Reduce the Pool of Eligible Recruits
Every Summer
Who We Are
MISSION: READINESS
security and prosperity into the 21st century by calling for smart investments in the upcoming generation
Acknowledgments
MISSION: READINESS
MISSION: READINESS
Major funding for MISSION: READINESS
©2012 MISSION: READINESS
Every Summer
Summary
summer are falling behind in reading and math
indicates that children on average fall one month
have access to a variety of summer enrichment
accounting for as much as two-thirds of the total
gap in their academic achievement compared to
their more advantaged peers.
While falling behind academically during the
half the total weight gain children
acquire during the entire year.
primarily because they are poorly educated or are
months can ensure that more children are able to
The Department of Defense reports that three out of four young adults cannot join the Armed Forces primarily because they are poorly educated or are overweight.
Every Summer1
An outdated perspective on summer
door and heading for a summer of outdoor freedom is no
Enrichment for some
to improve their reading and
Stagnation or worse
for others
But for many disadvantaged
Family Foundation has found that “8- to 18-year-olds spend
(maybe) sleeping - an average of more than seven and a half
1 Without the interruption
2
A national security issue
military because:
The military needs high school graduates:
In California, 24 percent of young people do not
graduate on time from high school
Prospective enlistees have to pass an entrance exam:
Of California graduates attempting to
another 24 percent
cannot join because they do not score
well enough on the military's test of
math and literacy skills.4
Prospective enlistees cannot be too heavy:
Nationally, one in four young adults has too
much excess body fat to be allowed in the
military 5
42 percent of California adults
18- to 24-years-old are overweight
or obese.6
7
The available data for California on weight, education and
young adults who are not able to join the military is similar
to the national rate – three out of four 8
Lazy Days of Summer: A National Security Threat?
42%
24%
24%
Every Summer2
Summer is more than half of the problem
simply has not received the research attention it deserves:
9
Summer learning loss
About
two-thirds of the ninth-grade academic achievement
gap between disadvantaged youngsters and their more
advantaged peers can be explained by what happens over
the summer during the elementary school years 11
of more economically advantaged fourth-grade students
only 42 percent of poor students (those eligible for free or
reduced-priced meals) achieved this very modest level of
12
Summer weight gain
rapidly gaining body fat:
children
gain weight three times faster during the summer
months as they do during the entire school year
children gain almost half of the total weight
they gain all year during just the summer months 14
While some advantaged kids move up academically each summer, too many disadvantaged kids slide backwards. Children are also gaining excess weight during the summer months.
Adapted from Chutes and Ladders™
US Department of Defense, 2012
The young adults in California would have to collectively lose weight equal to more than 400 Abrams tanks in order to reach a healthy weight.
Every Summer3
15
16
successfully reduced body fat and increased aerobic capacity
the improvements the students had achieved over nine
similar to those recorded before the children started the
17
Why the academic losses and weight gain?
18
36
55
39
34
35
38
40
22
4431
37
37
3137
37
31
41
28
29
3622
37
23
3940
30
25
32
31
38
23
32
0
37
38
41
40
40
30
45
35
35
43
24
33
28
35
33
31
30
2539
32
35
24
33
31
29
44
38
39
38
33
44
34
42
4830
39
40
2941
39
21
33
33
43
4031
30
35
4044
31
20
32
29
41
18
41
0
50
34
36
34
42
24
40
30
43
26
68
35
29
49
24
30
35
2346
34
32
23
33
31
34
No Data
15% - 19%
20% - 24%
25% - 29%
30% - 34%
35% - 39%
40% - 44%
45% - 49%
50% and higher
Percent With Poor
Aerobic Capacity*
California's Ninth Graders
* Fitnessgram data analyzed by the
California Department of Education.
The overweight/obese data is based
on additional analysis by The California
Center for Public Health Advocacy.
Percent Who Are
Overweight or Obese*(The California Center for Public Health Advocacy)
% of
mean
body
fat
* 2010 Fitnessgram data analyzed by the California Department of Education. over-weight/obese data is based on additional analysis by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy.
Every Summer4
What is already helping to prevent
academic skill loss during the summers?
Schools have often used mandatory summer school
19
Voluntary summer learning programs
solely academic and generally remedial (often providing
Building Educated Leaders for Life
(BELL)
about a
compared to
Mandatory summer school programs
summer programs because they provide the opportunity to
mandatory summer school program
or roughly one month
of gain
21
22
Parent involvement helps
they succeeded found that the “programs that included a
that gaining buy-in by parents helped increase enrollment
and/or regular attendance and that including parents in
24
Increasing reading at home during the summer
among children in high-poverty schools by providing them
0.00
0.05
0.10
BMI Units
per Month
Kindergarten
School Year
Summer After
Kindergarten
First Grade
School Year
Every Summer5
reading achievement gains for all the students three years
equivalent to improving more than a third of a
grade level.25
intervention could be done in addition to other enrichment
26
Adapting parent coaching on reading for use in
the summer
giving parents
a few hours of coaching
roughly ten times the impact of simply giving children free
27 Parent coaching on reading holds great promise for
summer learning if it can be routinely adapted for use during
Some schools are expanding learning time into
summer
children in other developed countries:
“Students in the United States receive fewer hours
of instruction – 799 per year [on average in the
U.S.], compared with 861 in Finland, 911 in the
Netherlands, 928 in Japan, and 1,079 in Korea.
Furthermore, the American school calendar is notable for its long, formal summer break, especially when compared to school calendars in other countries. [bolding added]”28
to the year or spreading out their vacation times across the
29
so it is not yet possible to determine the effectiveness alone
A regular school day is from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
plus extra weeks in the summer. Some schools even
offer Saturday programs. That’s up to 600 more hours
a year in school than children who attend traditional
public middle schools.30
A combination might work best
and parent coaching could help young children achieve a surge
United S
tate
s
Fin
land
Neth
erlands
Japan
Kore
a
Average Hours of Instruction for Students
Every Summer6
What else works to prevent academic losses
successful programs often:
Expand curriculum beyond remediation to
attending regularly (an especially crucial
What works to prevent weight gain?
regular physical education or recess activities offered by
to vigorous physical activity per day to prevent obesity and
Summer sports and activities
Boys & Girls Clubs
Triple Play
Triple Play
Youth
Youth not in
Triple Play
Every Summer7
Half of the children
improved their eating
habits compared to less than one-quarter of unhealthy-
eaters in the usual clubs
Almost half of the children in the control group were
still sedentary one-third
of children in the new approach
and healthy eating into summer learning programs can help
School districts, states, communities and
parents need help
and beverages in vending machines and other venues at
enroll their child in a summer program at all or did so for
Funding to help families and schools is scarce and
and 21st Century Community Learning Centers funding to
districts to redirect summer school funds for other purposes
of an alarming decline in access to free or reduced price
In Spring 2012, nine out of ten applications to the California
Department of Education for federal supplemental funding that
can be used for summer programs were denied
US Department of Defense, 2012
Every Summer8
children and can also help encourage them to attend summer
number of school sites serving summer meals fell by more
school meals program during the school year continued to have
receive supplemental grant funding that can be used to
of the remaining programs are interested in expanding into
41
Conclusion
Effective summer school and summer learning programs are
do a better job of supporting children in becoming better
Efforts to effectively enlist parents and others in the
More exploration of extended school years and/or splitting
the summer months is preventing too many of our children
2009 2012
Every Summer9
Appendix
Summer Matters is a statewide campaign led by the Partnership for Children and Youth that is helping expand quality summer learning programs across California. In collaboration with the National Summer Learning Association, ASAPconnect and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, the campaign works to build models of high-quality summer learning programs, increase public and policymaker awareness about the critical need for summer learning, and develop state and local policies that support summer learning opportunities.
The Summer Matters campaign builds on California’s publicly funded after-school system and provides a variety of support via technical assistance, curriculum development and expanded resources to help administrators adapt their programs to the summer months.
Initially implemented in 2008, the campaign has grown from 3 to 10 summer learning communities and is expected to serve over 5,500 students at 50 sites in 2012 in Fresno, Gilroy, Glenn County (Orland and Willows), Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Francisco, Santa Ana and Whittier.42 The campaign is funded by The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, with additional support from the Kaiser Permanente, S.D. Bechtel, Jr. and Noyce Foundations.
At the program site level, the campaign incorporates a variety of program components to keep kids safe, physically active and engaged in high-quality learning activities. Though activities
vary greatly program to program, programs share the following primary objectives:
Sustaining literacy;
Encouraging healthy, active lifestyles; and
Focusing on civic responsibility and community service.
In Oakland, for example, students wrote their own autobiographies, stories about food and persuasive papers to encourage their peers to exercise. Others took a
about environmental health. Some Oakland students even created a
are also offered in several summer learning communities.
The campaign is already showing promising results. In Whittier, 92
Angeles, over 85 percent of students reported an interest in staying physically active. Seventy percent of summer learning participants in Sacramento each completed over 100 hours of community service and 86 percent reported that, as a result of their summer of service, they were more interested in going to college than they were before. Summer Matters is giving more children access to summer learning opportunities and helping pave the way for expansion of summer learning in the years ahead.43
Summer Matters
Every Summer10
Endnotes
1 Generation M2: Media
in the lives of 8- to 18-year-olds
2 Generation M2: Media
in the lives of 8- to 18-year-olds
3 Dataquest
4 Shut out of the military: Today’s high school education
doesn’t mean you’re ready for today’s Army
5
rising obesity for US Military recruitment
Economic Research (NBER) study is an analysis of data from the National
6
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System –
Prevalence trends and data
7
MISSION: READINESS
originally reported in our national Too Fat to Fight
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System – Prevalence trends and
data
8 Behavioral Risk Factor
Surveillance System – Prevalence trends and data
Shut out of the military: Today’s high school education doesn’t
mean you’re ready for today’s Army
rends in high school dropout and completion
rates in the United States: 1972-2009
9
Journal of Adolescence
Crime in the United States 2010
10
Making summer count – How summer
programs can boost children’s learning
Corporation
11 Summer can set kids on the right – or wrong –
course
New Directions for
Youth Development
12 National Assessment of
Education Progress
13 Summer can set kids on the right – or wrong –
course
New Directions for
Youth Development, 114
14 Research brief –
Summertime and weight gain
American Journal of Public Health, 97
15 Research brief –
Summertime and weight gain
American Journal of Public Health, 97
16 Research brief –
Summertime and weight gain
American Journal of Public Health, 97
17
Archives
of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 161
18 Are ‘failing’ schools
really failing? Using seasonal comparisons to evaluate school effectiveness
19
Making summer count – How summer
programs can boost children’s learning
20 mpacts of a summer learning
program: A random assignment study of building educated leaders for life
(BELL)
21 Remedial education and student
achievement: A regression-discontinuity analysis
months of the school year and typically lose a month of gains during the
22
Making summer count – How summer
programs can boost children’s learning
23
Making summer count – How summer
programs can boost children’s learning
Every Summer11
Monographs of the Society for Research & Child Development,
65
24
Making summer count – How summer
programs can boost children’s learning
25 Top tier evidence initiative:
Evidence summary for annual book fairs in high-poverty elementary
schools
26
Reading Psychology,
31
Science Daily
27 The effect of family literacy interventions on
children’s acquisition of reading
28
Making summer count – How summer
programs can boost children’s learning
29
Washington Post
30
Washington Post
31
Making summer count – How summer
programs can boost children’s learning
32
American Journal of
Public Health, 97
33
Journal of Adolescence
th
34
Promoting healthy lifestyles: The impact of Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s
Triple Play program on healthy eating, exercise patterns, and developmental
outcomes
35
36 A time to learn, a time to
grow
37 Schools under stress: pressures mount
on Calfornia’s largest school districts
38 Los Angeles
Daily News
39 School’s out …who ate? A
report on summer nutrition in California
40
41
42
43 Summer matters campaign, summer learning
communities, service and outcomes summary 2011
Every Summer12
1212 New York Avenue NW, Suite 300Washington, DC 20005
(202) 464-5224www.MissionReadiness.org