This dissertation examined patterns of school-year academic growth and summer learning loss among low- and high-achieving African American students. After establishing the school-year and summer learning of low- versus high-achieving African American students, this study examined the summer experiences/activities of those students and asked if those experiences/activities had resulted in academic achievement. My research used a mixed methods approach. The quantitative portion of my study was conducted to determine if students experienced academic growth over the school year and academic learning loss over the summer. The independent variables included various summer activities, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity. The dependent variables included reading and mathematics RIT scores from fall 2013, winter 2014, spring 2014, and fall 2014. Also, through quantitative analysis, I compared differences in the types of activities that students participated in over the summer, and which of those experiences contributed to students’ academic success. After identifying students who experienced summer learning losses and gains and what types of summer activities those students had been engaged in, a qualitative study was conducted on a random group of students from the low- and high-achieving groups. The purpose of the qualitative study was to understand why the summer experiences of some students resulted in academic gains while the summer experiences of others resulted in academic losses. This mixed method study answered the following questions: (1) How much academic growth do low- versus high-achieving African American students experience during the school year? (2) How does summer learning loss/growth affect low- versus high-achieving African American students? (3) What are the summer experiences/activities of low- versus high-achieving African American students? (4) Which summer experiences/activities contribute to summer learning for low- and high-achieving African American students? This dissertation helps fill a gap in the existing literature about summer learning by focusing on low- versus high-achieving African American students and which summer experiences result in academic achievement.
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