CAPE GIRARDEAU- With the unofficial start of summer just days away and the end of the school year in sight, more learning might not be the top priority for many Missouri children, but education experts say it is critical to find ways to keep low-income children engaged over the summer.
Nancy Jernigan, executive director of the United Way of Southeast Missouri, says what's often referred to as an achievement gap for low-income children is in large part an opportunity gap, particularly in the summer.
"Middle-income kids can do vacations, go to camps, have experiences that continue to help them develop, whereas low-income kids, they are not exposed to any of those things," she points out.
Jernigan says many community groups and nonprofit organizations have stepped up to help fill the summer learning gap with inexpensive or even free summer learning programs and camps. 
She suggests parents seek out resources such as the Salvation Army, the Boys and Girls Club, local libraries and the public schools as options.
According to the National Summer Learning Association, low-income students typically lose more than two months of grade-level equivalency in reading achievement over the summer. 
Jernigan maintains the cumulative effect of the summer gap can be devastating. 
"So when they start school again they're not at the same level with their peers that they were at the end of the previous semester," she says. "So that's what we're really concerned about are those kids at risk already falling further and further behind year to year to year to year."
Research shows that middle-income children will either hold steady or make slight gains in reading and verbal skills over the summer, while all children tend to slide when it comes to math.