Summer Bridge produced short-term test-score gains and allowed more students to meet promotion cutoffs, particularly among sixth and eighth graders¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2003 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Sixth and eighth graders in Summer Bridge had substantial test-score gains, and in all three grades students increased scores faster than during the regular school year. → Melissa Roderick 2003

Evidence¶

Melissa Roderick 2003¶

Melissa Roderick, Mimi Engel, Jenny Nagaoka, with Brian A. Jacob, Sophie Degener, Alex Orfei, Susan Stone, Jen Bacon. (2003). Ending Social Promotion: Results From Summer Bridge. Consortium on Chicago School Research. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/ending-social-promotion-results-summer-bridge

q3 · i? · associational · r2

The report's evaluation of Chicago's mandatory Summer Bridge program (1997-2000) analyzed achievement of all participating students. It reports that sixth and eighth graders showed substantial gains, and in all three grades the rate of increase was above their school-year rate.

"Sixth and eighth graders had substantial test-score gains. In all three grades, the rate at which Summer Bridge students increased their test scores was above their rate during the regular school year."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Fewer than 60 percent of retained third and sixth graders in 1998 and 1999 raised their test scores to the promotional cutoff even with an extra January chance to pass — related
• Students in higher-achieving schools had larger Summer Bridge gains, so the program did not ameliorate quality differences across schools — related
• Summer Bridge produced only small sustained effects: slightly larger two-year gains than comparable non-attendees, without changing learning trajectories — related
• Summer Bridge gains were relatively uniform across demographic and achievement groups, with highest-risk third graders benefiting most — related
• Mandatory summer curricula are not teacher proof: individualizing instruction and quality of teacher-student interactions were associated with larger gains — related
• Passing rates under the Chicago promotional policy increased in all three grades from 1997 to 1999, mostly during the school year rather than Summer Bridge — reports the opposite
• Students who failed both reading and math made up the majority of retained students, and fewer than 20% of them passed both subjects in Summer Bridge — related
• Students who met the promotional cutoffs, including after Summer Bridge, maintained positive test trajectories two years after promotion — related
• Retained students showed smaller three-year achievement gains than previously socially promoted students, though Rasch adjustment erased the gap for once-retained third graders — related
• Summer Bridge's second chance substantially raised promotion rates: by August 1997, 68% of included third graders, 79% of sixth graders, and 83% of eighth graders had met the cutoff — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Sixth graders promoted in 1997 without meeting the test cutoff fared poorly at the eighth-grade gate, while Summer Bridge passers did relatively well — related
• Whether teachers knew their students before Summer Bridge predicted test-score increases and teacher practice, most strongly for older students — related
• Students were significantly more positive about classroom academic environments and teacher attention in Summer Bridge than in the school year — related