Summer learning loss can cause worry for parents, families, and educators across the globe. Being out of the school setting and daily routines, students are at risk to experience the summer slide, a regression in academic proficiency due to summer break.
IXL, the world's most popular subscription-based learning site for K–12, held its annual “Study in the Sun” contest to combat summer learning loss in a fun, interactive way. The contest was the perfect way for students to keep their skills fresh or even try out some new topics while school was out. Not to mention, they could win the ultimate prize – an iPad!
Lasya Jalari, seventh-grade student at Plymouth Scholars Charter Academy, was motivated to participate in the competition because she was excited to learn new things in a fun way and take advantage of the COVID-19 lockdown period, as the contest encouraged students to practice and gain confidence in their skills. She qualified under the fifth- through eighth-grade range, and only questions at a third-grade level and above were eligible and counted.
IXL selected the top three students from each grade range who have answered the most questions correctly on IXL between June 1 and Aug. 31, 2020. The goal was to support summer learning and amp up learning during the summer months when school isn’t in session.
Answering 45,776 questions correctly, Lasya took second place out of 51,000 competitors from all around the world and first place among all the participants from the United States! When she found out that she won the contest, she was very happy and forgot all the tough times where she had to sacrifice summer fun for her contest.
“It is very important to keep skills sharp and not to lose touch with subjects during summer months,” shared Lasya’s parents. “We have confidence that whatever she chooses to work on, she will put 100% effort into it.”
Over the course of the summer, Lasya spent approximately 220 hours answering questions on IXL, which equaled out to 2-3 hours a day for 92 days straight. The biggest lesson she learned while participating in the contest was that hard work means success, and perseverance by completing 500 questions every day for three months without losing focus.