By The Partnership for Children & Youth
Have you started planning for your summer learning program yet?
Summer learning programs are more important than ever as students, schools and communities are still recovering from the negative impacts of school closures and pandemic trauma on students’ academic progress and social-emotional skills. Summer programs offer an opportunity for fun, community building, exploration and learning in ways both different from and complementary to the school-year experience.
With $4 billion in the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program (ELO-P) funding available, there is funding to offer high-quality summer learning programs to students, especially those whose families can’t otherwise afford them.
The most impactful summer programs look and feel like summer camp while incorporating learning goals aligned with district priorities. Summer learning programs:
- Offer an innovative approach for engaging young people and inspiring a love of learning throughout the year
- Help students feel more connected to school, positively impacting their school-year attendance
- Include camp experiences such as chants and rituals, teams, games and sports, and engaging field trips
- Integrate intentional learning goals, lesson plans and evaluations of learning into an engaging program environment
Tools and resources to jumpstart your planning and implementation
Don’t reinvent the wheel — learn from local educational agencies and community partners that have already had success implementing ELO-P funding to provide transformative summer learning experiences for students.
- Join the Summer Game Plan Series — a virtual workshop series to guide TK-12 administrators, educators and community partners through developing and implementing summer learning programs. Between February and April, the series will feature research from leaders in the field; strategies to navigate challenges; information about staffing, funding and partnerships; and advice from practitioners.
- This summer planning timeline lays out key activities and milestones for planning, implementation and evaluation. Research shows that program leaders who begin planning by January run smoother programs with fewer disruptions. The time is now to plan a successful summer program! Register for the workshop series to create your summer game plan.
The Partnership for Children & Youth improves learning opportunities and conditions for youth by increasing access and quality of expanded learning programs in California: from the implementation of the 2006 landmark after-school measure Prop. 49, to the unprecedented $4 billion investment in expanded learning in 2022.
