Summer Slide
Research shows that a limited amount of academic activities during the summer results in 'summer slide', or students loosing academic competencies.   

“Without ongoing opportunities to learn and practice essential skills, kids fall behind on measures of academic achievement over the summer months.  Research dating back 100 years confirms the phenomenon often referred to as ‘summer slide. Most youth loose about 2 months of grade-level equivalency in mathematical computation skills over the summer months.” June 2009; The Progress of Education Reform, Vol 10. No. 3

Even more alarming, research shows that these students DO NOT catch up,. but rather, the 'summer slide' slide has a cumulative impact, beginning at around 3rd  or 4th grade and widening as students progress to each successive grade. Gladwell, M.2008,Outliers; The Story of Success"

While this problem is a national concern, it is clearly and issue in Prince Georges County. As noted in Education Week, “…even in well-off suburbs, minority student achievement lags behind that of majority student achievement.” Education Week, v19 n27 Mar 15 2000