Project Tag: Education

Summer can be a costly time for low-income families. According to Jennifer Peck, Executive Director of the Partnership for Children and Youth, “While middle-income children retain knowledge or, in many cases, make gains over the summer, low-income children fall behind.” Summer learning programs are a cost effective way to prevent summer learning loss and close the opportunity gap. In order to better understand the cost of such investments, Summer Matters conducted a small survey of partner organizations offering high-quality summer learning opportunities in California.

In 2016, the Oakland Summer Learning Network commissioned the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA), with the support of the Packard Foundation, to conduct a landscape assessment of summer learning programs in the city. This report summarizes key data points from that assessment.

Summer learning loss is holding back low income students. The summer months offer an opportunity to close the achievement gap, but don’t let your school district default to remedial summer school or credit recovery when a more engaging and meaningful learning opportunity exists.

I authored this guide for the California School Board Association in 2015. They designed and published the guide for school board members to increase support for summer learning programs.

This guide is intended to better acquaint school board members and superintendents with summer learning, and to help them establish or expand programs that result in greater learning and enrichment for the students they serve.