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LYNN, Mass. — In a vibrant middle school classroom in this historic city north of Boston, a group of boys aged 13 and 14 were busy crafting a poster that featured symbols from their favorite applications. With focused intent, Enthonny Silva measured out a box for the Netflix logo, while Guarionex Sanchez skillfully freehanded the WhatsApp symbol.
While none of the boys opted to attend school during the hot summer months, they admitted that their mothers had encouraged their participation. “She didn’t want me at home, sleeping all day,” Guarionex remarked.
Despite their initial reluctance, the boys found the program—structured around engaging, project-based learning initiatives in arts and sports—to be unexpectedly enjoyable.
Programs like this one, catering to low-income students who often face reading delays of two to three years compared to their peers, have surged in popularity since the onset of the pandemic. These developments have been largely fueled by billions in federal recovery funds distributed to states in the past three years. According to recent statistics, over 80% of districts launched summer programs in 2023, many of which were offered at no cost to participants.
Despite this expansion, experts argue that summer initiatives are not widespread enough to adequately address the extensive learning losses associated with the pandemic. Additionally, as federal funding approaches its expiration, many programs are facing the prospect of staff and service reductions for the following summer. In contrast, innovative programs like Lynn’s Dream MORE are actively seeking alternative funding through grants and community donations to maintain their services.
Patrick Stanton, the executive director of the Massachusetts Afterschool Partnership, expressed concern that families should be preparing for significant changes by next summer. He indicated that many programs will have to close or greatly limit their capacities, leading to longer waitlists for eager students.
“We’re sleepwalking into a crisis,” Stanton cautioned.
Nevertheless, there remains an opportunity for school districts to strengthen summer learning initiatives. With a remaining allocation of $34.1 billion in leftover federal pandemic relief funds, districts have until the end of September to redirect some of that money towards summer programming.
Additionally, EducationCounsel, a consulting firm, encourages schools to leverage other federal funding sources in order to sustain summer learning programs. They have also developed a guide aimed at aiding districts in maintaining such valuable initiatives.
The educational impacts of the pandemic have affected students across socioeconomic backgrounds, with findings indicating that the average student from grades three to eight has lost approximately six months of progress in math and three months in reading between the spring of 2019 and 2022.
However, the most profound detriment has been observed among low-income students, exacerbating the achievement gaps across the nation.
Although Massachusetts is often recognized for its exceptional public school system, it has seen the most significant disparities grow between districts serving low-income populations and those serving wealthier families. This widening gap was highlighted in an analysis from the Harvard Center for Education Policy Research and Stanford’s Educational Opportunity Project.
Lynn has faced some of the toughest challenges; around 75% of its students come from low-income households, and the percentage of English language learners increased by 75% during the pandemic, currently standing at 43%. According to the analysis, students in this city have experienced learning losses equivalent to two years in math and one and a half years in reading.
With $122 billion allocated for K-12 schools under the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, there was optimism for recovery in districts like Lynn. The law mandated that states allocate a minimum of 5% of their funding for “evidence-based interventions” specifically targeting learning discrepancies and set aside an additional 1% for summer enrichment activities, along with requiring local agencies to spend at least 20% of their funding addressing learning loss.
As it turns out, summer learning became one of the most favored strategies, with 75% of districts integrating it into their fiscal plans.
By February of this year, around $8.1 billion of these rescue funds had been allocated to after-school and summer programs, with an additional $2.1 billion distributed to various local governments, as detailed by the Afterschool Alliance. This funding has facilitated access to summer and after-school initiatives for 5 million additional students from 2021 through 2024.
Massachusetts has dedicated nearly $20 million from its recovery funds to support after-school and summer initiatives, particularly benefiting districts with lower income levels such as Lynn.
Yet, even with this financial assistance, districts like Lynn continue to lag behind their wealthier counterparts, as learning deficits have persisted into the 2022-23 academic year, according to the research by Harvard and Stanford.
Nonetheless, summer learning programs have shown promise in making a difference. A study examining a program initiated by Bloomberg Philanthropies since the pandemic revealed that students enrolled in public charter schools across eight urban areas could recoup about 31% of their pandemic-related math losses and 22% in reading.
Conversely, a separate study, which evaluated summer school attendance across eight districts in 2022, showed only minor improvements in math skills and no notable gains in reading skills. To revert to pre-pandemic math performance, it was estimated that districts would require placing every student in a five-week summer school with two hours of math instruction over two to three consecutive years.
The findings have led to concerns that a significant number of students do not participate in summer learning, often due to a lack of awareness regarding their academic standing. Research by Miles Davison, a scientist at NWEA, noted that only around 13% of students in the districts analyzed enrolled in these programs.
The term “summer school” often carries negative connotations for students, conjuring images of struggle and monotony, starkly contrasting the appealing options available in modern summer learning initiatives that emphasize interactive projects and enjoyable activities. Different from the traditional summer school format, current offerings entice students with complimentary meals and transportation, along with engaging lessons in cooking, dance, sports, and other expressive arts.
“If summer school and summer camp had a baby, you’d get summer learning,” remarked Aaron Philip Dworkin, CEO of the National Summer Learning Association.
Ultimately, summer learning not only helps students academically but also fosters their re-engagement with school. High engagement levels can significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates that have surged post-pandemic, as noted by Erik Peterson of the Afterschool Alliance.
Participants in Lynn’s Dream MORE program—a collaboration between the district and LEAP for Education—have shown measurable advancements in socio-emotional skills like self-regulation and engagement, which correlate with academic success.
The program offers various project-based learning opportunities, covering topics like robotics, cyberbullying, and “Life as a Young Teen,” the class where the boys designed their poster showcasing favorite apps. Newcomers are guided to courses like “Migration Stories,” while environmentally inclined students can select “Eco-Warriors.”
In a session titled “Culture and Cloth,” students viewed a video on Navajo weaving and then sketched designs for miniature weavings they would create.
Rising sixth grader Savannah Nolan practiced basic drawing techniques on a friend’s nail and reflected on her experience. Although her mother had given her the option to leave the program after the first day, Savannah chose to stay due to the friendships she had formed and the excitement of engaging projects.
“I’ve made so many friends,” she stated. “I like that we do projects, and that they let us use our phones,”—an opportunity usually off-limits in traditional school settings. She further added, “We’re going to go on field trips if we behave.”
“And we’re good kids, so we’re going to,” Sarahi Valerio chimed in, while demonstrating her artistic skills by sketching a rainbow and lollipop, describing her vision for “Candyland.”
The Dream MORE initiative, which transitioned to virtual learning in 2020, received $25,000 in pandemic relief aid over the last two years. As the program’s funding becomes challenging, executive director Linda Saris indicated they are enhancing fundraising efforts, acknowledging increased competition for charitable contributions.
A survey conducted by the Afterschool Alliance in 2022 noted that programs supported by recovery funds utilized the resources to hire additional staff, expand service capacity, and diversify offerings.
This growth is now at risk, as more than half of district superintendents indicated they would have to trim summer program funding once federal support concludes, as reported in another survey.
However, there is still potential to delay some cuts for at least another year. While Congress limited spending deadlines for schools to complete their allocations to January 2025, the Education Department is inviting districts to seek extensions that would allow them extra time—up to 14 months—to exhaust remaining funds.
If granted an extension, districts could potentially continue funding outside summer program providers through March 2026.
Yet, educational researchers stress the importance of adopting a multifaceted approach to addressing learning losses. Simply relying on summer learning will not suffice to mitigate the adverse effects of the pandemic, as students risk carrying these educational setbacks into adulthood, cautioned Thomas Kane, a Harvard professor focused on educational policy research.
“It’s pretty clear that the high-poverty districts in Massachusetts will not have caught up by the time the money runs out,” Kane warned.
This story about summer learning was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit news organization that highlights issues of inequality and innovation in education.
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