Summer Learning Resources
Our Summer Learning Policy Brief
Did you know that two-thirds of the achievement gap between lower and middle to higher income youth entering 9th grade can be attributed to summer learning loss? Our new Summer Learning Policy Brief highlights research showing the benefits and importance of summer learning in leveling the playing field for all youth, provides an overview of what is happening in Washington State during the summer and includes recommendations around improving quality and increasing access to summer learning programs.
Read our four page document on Summer Learning in Washington published in 2011.
Additional Resources on Summer Learning
America After 3PM Special Report on Summer: Missed Opportunities, Unmet Demand
America After 3PM Special Report on Summer, sponsored by The Wallace Foundation, offers a snapshot of how children spend their summers and finds that the nation is missing a key opportunity to help millions of children succeed in school. For millions of children in America, when schools close for the summer, safe and enriching learning environments are out of reach, replaced by boredom, lost opportunities and risk. New analysis of data from the America After 3PM study measures the extent of this problem, concluding that three-quarters of America's schoolchildren do not participate in summer learning programs. Yet, fifty-six percent of kids (an estimated 24 million) who are not participating in summer learning programs, would likely enroll in a program, based on parent interest.
Feed Your Brain Grants
This grant program funds summer programs in rural areas which give kids access to summer learning and summer food.
Identifying Summer Learning Goals: Tips for Community-Based Programs
We've prepared a goal-setting guide to help programs navigate the process of identifying and setting summer learning goals in partnership with local schools.
*NEW* Making Summer Count: How Summer Programs Can Boost Children's Learning
Download this free e-book: "A review of the literature on summer learning loss and summer learning programs, coupled with data from ongoing programs offered by districts and private providers across the United States, demonstrates the potential of summer programs to improve achievement as well as the challenges in creating and maintaining such programs."
by Jennifer Sloan McCombs,, Catherine H. Augustine, Heather L. Schwartz, Susan J. Bodilly, Brian McInnis, Dahlia S. Lichter and Amanda Brown Cross. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2011. Also available in print form.
National Summer Learning Association
The National Summer Learning Association serves as a network hub for thousands of summer learning program providers and stakeholders across the country, providing tools, resources, and expertise to improve program quality, generate support, and increase youth access and participation. They offer professional development, quality assessment and evaluation, best practices dissemination and collaboration, and other resources.
Summer Learning Day 2011
Join the National Summer Learning Association and communities across the country in celebrating the importance of summer learning on June 21. Summer Learning Day is supported by elected officials and policymakers, public agencies, nonprofit organizations, schools, universities, museums, libraries and summer camps across the country. Design an event that demonstrates the value of your program and generates more support for summer learning in your community. You can register your event and find tools and resources to help you plan it at the National Summer Learning Association's website.
Summer Learning Tips for Parents – English
Summer Learning Tips for Parents – Spanish