Dive Brief:
- There are a wealth of factors outside of teacher quality and school environment which contribute to student success, including summer camp attendance, afterschool programming and whether children have a clean set of clothes to wear, according to a recent article in Business Insider.
- Students’ attitudes and perceptions, including how “gritty” they are and how they respond to failure, as well as to practical matters like whether the school day begins before 8:30 a.m. and school diversity all impact student succeed, the article said.
- Studies have also indicated that students tend to do better in school if their parents have a strong relationship as opposed to a fraught one, regardless of whether the parents are married or divorced. The studies did find that divorce correlated with poorer student outcomes.
Dive Insight:
Several suggestions for positive educational outcomes include enrolling students in summer camp, as well as in after-school programs. The former can help stem the detrimental impact of the "summer slide," when students may face math and literacy learning losses, while the latter can help provide additional support for in-school instruction and help close any existing gaps through more personalized attention. Concerns over potential federal funding losses for such programs have recently made the news, but the national conversation (particularly about how these programs are supported and funded) could shift if a wide majority of voters view these opportunities as a benefit to the student’s education in addition to a means of quality supervision.
Start times are a constant topic of debate in education circles. Fatigue is often viewed as a drain in the professional work environment, as well as on college campuses, but increased attention must be paid to the effect it could have on younger students. The fatigue of employees is often considered a point of concern for employers who worry that tiredness could lead to substandard results, but this line of thinking can be more difficult to see in K-12 education. Nevertheless, fatigue can have a gradually malignant impact on student performance, even if it is difficult to see in the moment.