June 2009 Feature: Summer Learning Opportunites: Civic engagement in Your Community
National Summer Learning Day: July 9, 2009
Seize this great opportunity to showcase your program and get the word out about the importance of summer learning. Host an event during the week of July 6 to help focus attention on how summer programs:
- Send young people back to school ready to learn
- Support working families
- Help to keep children safe and healthy
The National Summer Learning Association offers free online resources, including an event checklist, list of example events, and summer learning talking points that will help kick-start your event.
This year, actress Annette Bening is helping to spread the word about the importance of summer learning. Ms. Bening is an honorary board member of the National Center for Summer Learning.
Did You Know?
- All young people experience learning losses when they do not engage in educational activities during the summer. Research spanning 100 years shows that students typically score lower on standardized tests at the end of summer vacation than they do on the same tests at the beginning of the summer (White, 1906; Heyns, 1978; Entwisle & Alexander 1992; Cooper, 1996; Downey et al, 2004).
- Most students lose about two months of grade-level equivalency in mathematical computation skills over the summer months. Low-income students also lose more than two months in reading achievement, despite the fact that their middle-class peers make slight gains (Cooper, 1996).
- More than half of the achievement gap between lower- and higher-income youth can be explained by unequal access to summer learning opportunities. As a result, low-income youth are less likely to graduate from high school or enter college (Alexander et al, 2007).
- Children lose more than academic knowledge over the summer. Most children — particularly children at high risk of obesity — gain weight more rapidly during summer break (Von Hippel et al, 2007).
- Parents consistently cite summer as the most difficult time to ensure that their children have productive things to do (Duffett et al, 2004).
Our-of-School Time
These programs encompass a wide range of offerings for young people that take place after school, on the weekends, and during the summer and other school breaks. Important considerations for out-of-school time environments include keeping young people safe, providing opportunities for positive relationships with adults and peers, making time for physical recreation and unstructured play, allowing youth to explore interests, enhancing positive character traits, and strengthening academic and life skills.
See the Resource Center's out-of-school time topic page for a comprehensive collection of resources and related websites.
Bibliographic Records
- Kid's Guide to Service Projects: Over 500 Service Ideas for Young People Who Want to Make a Difference
- Kid's Guide to Social Action: How to Solve the Social Problems You Choose - and Turn Creative Thinking into Positive Action
- 50 Great Make-it, Take-it Projects
- School-Age Ideas and Activities for After-School Programs
- Half a Childhood: Quality Programs for Out-of-School Hours
- Links to Learning: Supporting Learning in Out-of-School Time Programs
Effective Practices
- Providing summertime contact in school-based mentoring programs
- Identifying features of high-performing after-school programs
- Supporting at-risk youth with summer high school preparatory programs
- Building effective programs for summer learning
- Using community-based service-learning as a strategy during out-of-school time
