National

Preventing Student ‘Summer Slide’

Published

11 years ago

July 1, 2015

By Jazelle Hunt
NNPA Washington Correspondent

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – As students slip into their summer vacations, it’s up to families to make sure they don’t slip into academic amnesia. Usually, in what is called the summer slide, students forget up to six months of math and reading instruction when they’re not engaged in academic activities between school years.

Matthew Mugo Fields thinks he has the solution to halting that slide. He hopes to bridge the gap with Rocket Group, an education company he founded. His suite of programs for schools and parents blend technology, face-to-face instruction, and specialized curricula based on groundbreaking yet obscure research from Stanford University.

“[Summer slide] is a huge problem. And it’s exacerbated for low-income and minority students,” says Fields, a Morehouse University alumnus who holds a double-masters in business and education from Harvard University. “The research I’ve seen says that nearly half of the achievement gap can be explained by the difference in summer learning between low-income students and their counterparts.

Tammy Drayton is an early childhood teacher in Newark, N.J. Even kindergarten students are expected to know a few things at the start of school, such as counting to 10, colors, shapes, and the days of the week. When such lessons are new or lost to them, the impact is clear.

“We might have to do more one-on-one work with [that student],” she said. “But it may affect their social skills. Because if they realize they’re not on the level of other kids, they tend to pull away and shut down. They feel different, in a sense.”

Summer slide affects older students, too, and the stakes are much higher. In high school, there are fewer interventions and opportunities to relearn lost information, and students can become discouraged with their performance – internally and through the actions of teachers and administrators. In this way, summer slide can lead to dropping out.

It also manifests as poor preparation for post-graduation. Another term, “summer melt,” happens when college-eligible high school seniors do not successfully transition to post-secondary education. The Department of Education estimates that up to 20 percent of high school graduates are lost this way, most of them of color.

“Preparation is a factor, but not the guiding factor of whether a student will be college-bound,” says David Johns, executive director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans. “The belief…if they can even go to college diminishes, if they are not supported over time.”

The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans is currently working on combatting these summer losses. Although it is still gathering data, it’s clear that parental involvement is one of the most important factors in academic achievement across years, for students of all ages.

“It’s important to acknowledge that the first and most important educator in a child’s life is his or her parents. One of the challenges is engaging parents to supplement learning for their scholars,” says Johns.

“Often the way we think of learning is that it’s for school only, it happens in the classroom within the school day. But educational development…happens throughout the calendar year.”

Drayton says that in her kindergarten classroom, parents’ efforts are more important than the personalized schoolwork packets her school sends home with students.

“My students left me today, and I gave them a list of books along with a summer packet. I don’t necessarily rely on the packets [to determine if slide has occurred],” she says. “It affects [students] based on if they worked with a parent, and it all depends on if they had practice or continuing education in the summer.”

Johns explains that income is the strongest predictor of summer slide. More affluent families have the money, job flexibility, and connections to keep their children engaged with programs, gadgets, and enriching experiences throughout the year.

Other families, who may lack time, money, and access, have to get resourceful in supplementing their child’s education.

“Go to the library – it’s free. Dollar stores sell books, and places like the Salvation Army sometimes gives away books,” Drayton recommends. “Read something with your child every day. It’s essential to build literacy skills over the summer.”

For parents and guardians, Fields offers GiftedandTalented.com, which provides personalized academic supplements and one-on-one tutoring via video chat. The supplements are designed to give all students access to the high-quality resources found in traditional gifted and talented classes, regardless of the student’s placement in school. There are free activities on the site, but income-based scholarships and financial assistance is also available to take advantage of the site’s complete offerings.

“I aspire to get many more students to embrace the idea that ‘gifted and talented’ is a destination, it’s something you can become, not just something you’re born as,” Fields says, also recommending the library and recreation centers to prevent summer slide.

“We are in the golden age of technology and education – there are things people can access with any kind of device to keep students engaged. Use the summer to get ahead.”

Johns suggests singing, reading, and playing with younger students to keep their minds sharp, and planning in advance and setting achievable goals for more independent kids. The Department of Education also recommends helping high school students create post-graduation prep checklists, and allowing them to job shadow a parent or relative, or encouraging them to volunteer if they cannot find a job for themselves.

“Create a summer intervention plan. Ensure every day they can preserve their knowledge,” he says. “Sometimes we make this more complicated than it has to be. There’s a role every person can play to make these learning connections, whether grandma reads to them, or dad takes them to the museum, or someone counts money with them. Everyone can be an important part of learning for our scholars.”

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Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

Published

3 days ago

July 5, 2026

Oakland Post

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NPRC Joins National Grand Jury Proceedings Seeking Accountability, Constitutional Restoration

Organizers state that testimony will explore historical and political developments that they believe have contributed to the expansion of corporate influence over public institutions and governmental decision-making. Participants are expected to discuss concerns regarding constitutional governance, individual liberties, property rights, and the protection of vulnerable populations, including seniors and persons with disabilities.

Published

2 weeks ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

Photo by Billie Powers.

Special to The Post

The National Probate Reform Coalition (NPRC) has joined Toll and Roll and a growing coalition of advocacy organizations, victims, whistleblowers, and citizen groups in support of a nationally broadcast People’s Grand Jury proceeding scheduled for July 1 and July 7.

Organizers describe the event as a public forum designed to examine allegations of government abuse, judicial misconduct, legislative failures, and the erosion of constitutional protections affecting millions of Americans.

The proceedings will feature testimony from victims, families, advocates, and organizations from across the country who contend they have experienced harm through government actions, institutional neglect, and failures of oversight.

According to organizers, the People’s Grand Jury will focus on concerns involving probate courts, guardianships, conservatorships, child welfare systems, property rights, civil liberties, and what participants view as a growing disconnect between government institutions and the constitutional rights of the people they are sworn to serve.

NPRC is participating because many of the issues being examined mirror the concerns raised by advocates, victims, and families who have participated in its monthly town halls. For years, families have reported cases involving exploitation of elders, questionable guardianships, estate depletion, denial of due process, and a lack of meaningful oversight within probate court systems.

“This proceeding gives victims and advocates an opportunity to place their experiences on the public record,” said Tanya Dennis, lead facilitator of NPRC. “For too long, families have struggled to have their voices heard regarding elder abuse, probate exploitation, and government inaction. This forum allows those stories to be shared before a national audience.”

In keeping with principles of transparency and fairness, invitations have been extended to legislators, members of the judiciary, law enforcement representatives, and other public officials who may wish to respond to concerns raised during the proceedings or defend actions taken by their respective institutions.

One of the primary outcomes sought by organizers is public consideration and support for the People’s Remedy and Restoration Act, a proposed legislative framework that advocates believe would strengthen oversight, increase accountability, provide remedies for victims of governmental abuse, and restore constitutional protections.

The proceedings are expected to be broadcast nationally, providing citizens throughout the United States an opportunity to observe testimony, review evidence presented, and participate in an ongoing conversation regarding government accountability and the protection of individual rights.

Advocates hope the hearings will encourage meaningful dialogue, legislative reform, and renewed public engagement in the democratic process.

Individuals, organizations, public officials, and members of the media interested in attending or obtaining access information may contact the organizers at tollandroll2025@gmail.com.

As Americans continue to debate the future of constitutional governance, judicial accountability, and the protection of vulnerable citizens, the July proceedings are expected to serve as a significant forum for public testimony and civic engagement. For more information, go to https://tollandroll.com

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50 Years Later, ‘Wake Up Everybody!’ Still Resonates During Black Music

The words of the song, “Wake Up Everybody,” debuted by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes in 1975, still resonate today as those words are just as relevant more than a half century later.

Published

2 weeks ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

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By Hazel Trice Edney, Special to The Post

Hazel Trice Edney

“Wake up, everybody, No more sleepin’ in bed

No more backward thinkin’. Time for thinkin’ ahead

The world has changed so very much from what it used to be.

There is so much hatred, war, and poverty.

“The world won’t get no better If we just let it be.

Naw, naw, naw, naw, naw, naw, naw.

The world won’t get no better. We gotta change it, yeah– just you and me.”

The words of the song, “Wake Up Everybody,” debuted by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes in 1975, still resonate today as those words are just as relevant more than a half century later.

In a rare, nearly somber moment, the group’s celebrated lead singer, Teddy Pendergrass, introduced the song on Soul Train, the weekly dance and live performance TV show that aired roughly between 1971 and 2006. Pendergrass told the attentive live audience and thousands watching by television that Wake Up Everybody, the title tune of their most recent album, was intended to inspire people to take action with a goal to change America for the better.

“I’m sure that you will all agree that there are things that need to be done in this country today,” he said. “So, what I’d like for you to do is listen very carefully to see what you can do to lend a hand.”

The song’s appeal worked.

“I played that song over and over and over again because it was a constant warning to keep ourselves prepared for the society that we were living in,” says A. Peter Bailey, then a 37-year-old former aide to Malcolm X.

When “Wake Up Everybody” hit the airwaves, Bailey was working as an associate editor of Ebony Magazine. “It was a call to be aware of what we were dealing with in the country that we lived in, the world we lived in, the neighborhood we lived in, the cities that we lived in,” Bailey said in an interview with the Trice Edney News Wire.

He concluded that during Black Music Month 2026, such songs should be recalled and celebrated as a key to changes for the good across America; especially because such songs successfully encouraged people to deal with the issues that might otherwise denigrate the promises of America, including the promise that “All men are created equal,”as stated in the Declaration of Independence.

“The rhythms and blues expressed our joys, our sorrows and our fears,” Bailey recalls. “It was those songs and the singing of those songs by our people that attracted us to the campaigns for justice.”

With his life inspired by that song and others, Bailey, now 88, went on to establish and teach a Black Press class at Virginia Commonwealth University. Also, he has since written three books, including a memoir, “Witnessing Brother Malcolm X, the Master Teacher,” in which he expounded upon successful principles of social justice, some of which are reflected in “Wake Up Everybody.”

Long before the term “woke” became associated with campaigns for justice, Pendergrass led the song that reverberated across America and still holds deep meaning.

The ‘wake up’ call exhorts teachers to ‘teach a new way,’ doctors to heal elders, and builders to ‘build a new land… we can do it if we all lend a hand.”

The song concludes:

“The world won’t get no better if we just let it be. Naw, naw, naw, naw, naw, naw, naw. The world won’t get no better. We gotta change it, yeah – just you and me.”

Hazel Trice Edney wrote this story as part of a four-part series powered by AARP in commemoration of Black Music Month, June 2026.