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Summer Learning

The Summer Slide: What the Data Actually Shows

The research on summer learning loss is consistent, decades-long, and largely ignored in practice. RAND Corporation research shows that students in structured summer learning programs gain an average of two months of reading and math skills compared to peers with no programming. Students without programming lose an average of one to three months, depending on subject and income level.

The equity dimension is what makes this urgent. Child Trends analysis consistently finds that low-income students lose ground at roughly twice the rate of higher-income peers. By the time a low-income student finishes fifth grade, they may be two to three full years behind peers who attended structured summer programming each summer, even controlling for the school-year experience. Your summer program is not enrichment. It is gap prevention.

The students who benefit most from your program are the ones who lose the most without it. That is not a motivational statement. It is the data. Programs that internalize this frame their summer work differently, deliver with more urgency, and see better attendance and family engagement as a result.

"Summer programs are where the opportunity gap is either closed or widened. Every week of quality programming represents measurable academic protection for your highest-need students."

Program Quality

What Makes Summer Programs Actually Work

Not all summer programming is equal. The Wallace Foundation's multi-year summer learning initiative identified five characteristics of high-quality summer programs that consistently produce academic gains. Understanding what separates effective from ineffective programs should shape how you design and run your six-to-eight weeks of programming right now.

The Five Quality Drivers

• 1
  Intentional academic instruction, not just enrichment

  Programs that produce gains spend at least two hours per day on targeted literacy and math instruction tied to grade-level standards. Enrichment activities are valuable, but academic instruction must be the anchor, not an afterthought.

• 2
  Attendance above 80 percent across the program session

  Academic gains in summer programs are dosage-dependent. Students who miss more than 20 percent of sessions show minimal gains. This means attendance is not a soft metric. It is the primary fidelity indicator for your program quality.

• 3
  Qualified, returning instructional staff

  Programs that use certified teachers or instructional coaches with summer-program-specific training outperform those using general camp counselors in an instructional role. Staff continuity from prior summers also correlates with stronger outcomes.

• 4
  Structured, connected curriculum with clear learning progressions

  High-performing programs run six to eight weeks with a coherent scope and sequence, not isolated daily themes. Curriculum that builds on itself, connects to school-year content, and uses formative data to adjust instruction is the differentiator.

• 5
  Active family engagement, not passive communication

  Programs that involve families in learning activities, not just inform them of schedules, show higher attendance and stronger gains. Weekly family engagement touchpoints, even brief ones, significantly outperform programs that communicate monthly.

If your program hits at least four of these five benchmarks, you are in the top tier of summer programming nationally. If you are consistently below three, this summer is the opportunity to diagnose why and build toward a stronger model for next year.

Federal Funding

21st CCLC Update: After the June House Markup

In May's edition, we reported that the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, and Education was scheduled to take up the FY2027 bill in early June 2026. That markup has now occurred. Consistent with the FY2026 cycle, the subcommittee rejected the administration's proposal to eliminate 21st CCLC and retained funding. Afterschool Alliance advocacy confirmed the program survived the committee vote with funding maintained at or near the current $1.329 billion level.

What this means operationally: The subcommittee vote is the most significant early indicator of Congressional intent. A full floor vote and Senate appropriations process remain, but the committee vote signals that the broad bipartisan coalition that protected 21st CCLC in FY2026 remains intact. Programs with FY2027 grant applications in-process should continue on schedule. Programs waiting for certainty before making FY2027 commitments are giving up planning runway unnecessarily.

State-level FY2027 subgrant competitions tied to federal allocations will begin opening in late summer and fall 2026. The programs that will be most competitive are those that spent June planning their FY2027 budget structure, documenting their FY2026 outcomes, and aligning their program model to state RFP criteria before the application window opens.

Advocacy still matters. The House floor vote and Senate markup are the remaining steps. If you have not yet contacted your Congressional representatives to express support for 21st CCLC, use the Afterschool Alliance advocacy tools. The subcommittee vote is not the final vote. Sustained constituent contact through the summer appropriations process matters.

Operational Planning

Fall Planning Starts in June, Not August

The single most common operational mistake in out-of-school time programs is treating August as the planning month for September. By August, every qualified instructor has accepted a job. Every compliance timeline is compressed. Every vendor contract has a premium on it. Fall programs that open strong begin their planning in June, when school closes and the window is widest.

Your June Fall-Planning Checklist

• 1
  Post fall positions now, not in August

  Staff who are job-searching are looking in June and July. By August, the best candidates have already committed. Post your fall coordinator, lead instructor, and support staff roles now. Include your start date, training dates, and wage clearly in every post.

• 2
  Renew licenses and certifications before July 1

  Check every background check expiration date for returning staff. Confirm your facility license renewal window. Background checks and site licenses are the two compliance items most likely to delay a program opening and they both take longer to process than expected.

• 3
  Schedule your school-day partner meeting before summer closes

  Your relationship with the school principal, attendance coordinator, and counselors determines your referral pipeline and your program visibility. Schedule a fall alignment meeting now, not during the August staff-chaos window. The agenda should cover shared student rosters, attendance reporting protocols, and joint family communication plans.

• 4
  Sequence your fall curriculum through December by July 15

  Programs that enter September with a finalized six-week scope and sequence run tighter, higher-quality sessions than those improvising weekly. Build your fall curriculum arc now: identify the academic focus areas tied to your students' spring assessment gaps, sequence the units, and confirm you have the materials before the school year starts.

• 5
  Document your summer outcomes for the FY2027 grant cycle

  Your summer attendance data, academic assessment pre-post scores, and family engagement metrics are the outcome evidence that distinguishes competitive grant applications. Capture this data in real time, not retrospectively in October. The programs that win FY2027 competitive grants will document outcomes they collected this summer.

From GSW

The GSW Summer Giveaway: Win a Signature Transformation

We built this newsletter for the program leader who takes the work seriously. The one running a summer program right now while simultaneously planning for fall, tracking appropriations updates, and trying to figure out how to staff September. If that is you, this is for you.

We are giving away one complete Signature Transformation engagement to one K-12 or OST program leader. This is not a discovery call. It is the full engagement: 40 hours of dedicated expert consulting across strategic assessment, curriculum development, talent and staffing systems, operations, financial sustainability, and leadership coaching.

Entry is free. You can earn additional entries by sharing on LinkedIn, tagging colleagues in the field, and completing the Summer Program Readiness Assessment. The more you engage with the field, the more chances you have to win. Details and entry at gsweducationpartners.com/summer-giveaway.

Whether you win or not, the engagement with this edition, the assessment tool, and the July newsletter puts you ahead of the programs that spent June waiting for August. That is the point. Show up for your students this summer, and we will show up for you.