When Schools Close: Harnessing the Power of Summer for Early School Success

During this webinar, in honor of National Summer Learning Week, leaders from GLR’s longtime partner, the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA), along with leaders from three award-winning summer learning programs discussed current trends and best practices in summer learning and how they are adapting to serve families during the pandemic. Panelists discussed recent research that connects the new “COVID-19 Learning Slide” to the 20+ years of research demonstrating how the summer learning slide results in a persistent achievement gap, and how quality academic and enrichment summer programming is reversing this trend.

Co-presenters Aaron Dworkin and Matthew Boulay of bshared an overview of NSLA’s work to advance such quality summer programming and shift the narrative from summer being a challenging time for kids to summer being the perfect time for improvement, innovation, integration and impact. Dworkin conveyed the importance of leveraging summer to focus on four easy things that support the “whole child” approach to early school success: physical and emotional health, community involvement, skill building and school readiness. Boulay discussed the importance of providing resources and support for parents to ensure their children have summer learning opportunities. He shared the principles of his new e-book for parents, How to Keep Your Kids Learning When Schools Are Closed, including the importance of nurturing the whole child, connecting to Dworkin’s earlier point. Dworkin and Boulay also shared more about this week’s awareness-building event, National Summer Learning Week, and encouraged participants to access NSLA’s related resources, log their events on the website and amplify the message that #SummerMatters on social media.

Community commentators — Mary Riggs of the Andy Roddick Foundation, Marby Shaw of Camp Good Sam and Cara Schrack of Save the Children — shared how they are adapting their summer learning programs to align with guidance in response to the pandemic while still engaging children and families with critical literacy and learning activities.

Driven by a commitment to maintaining strong relationships with children and families, the Andy Roddick Foundation (ARF) in Austin, Texas, is continuing to provide literacy, STEM, health and wellness, and social and emotional learning activities through virtual sessions and through activity guides for parents to do at home with their children. Through ARF’s community partnerships, they are also delivering fresh produce and healthy snacks to families on a weekly basis. Chief Program Officer Mary Riggs shared ARF’s key learnings around the importance of keeping things simple, increasing the emphasis on literacy and ensuring families have options to engage that do not require internet access.

Camp Good Sam, part of Good Samaritan Community Services supporting communities across central and southern Texas, usually administers a six-week summer learning program focused on literacy, peer-based learning and outdoor fun. Knowing that access to broadband and devices is a major barrier for the families they serve, this summer Camp Good Sam decided to pilot a four-week, in-person summer learning program. Assistant Director of Regional Youth and Teen Services Marby Shaw shared that standard operating procedures were first established, and staff were trained to implement strict procedures for the in-person camp, including daily temperature checks, face masks and hourly hand washing, among other precautions. The pilot has been successful, and Camp Good Sam is now preparing to support local school districts with access to technology, after-school programming and homework assistance as they determine what the return to school will look like.

Cara Schrack, Director of Education with Save the Children, discussed the organization’s global work and its U.S. Programs division that is focused on serving rural communities across nine states. In response to the COVID-19 crisis, Save the Children has supported the distribution of over 1 million meals and reached over 150,000 families with learning materials. Schrack discussed the exacerbated digital divide in rural communities and Save the Children’s strategy to partner with local school districts to deliver literacy, learning and physical activity “push-in kits” along with meals for families to enable summer learning without the need for broadband or devices.