1. hobbies and interests
2. reading

Summer Learning:
What’s working and what’s next?
Presenter:
Sarah Pitcock, National Summer Learning Association
Lead Discussants:
John Annis, Sarasota County Community Foundation
Terri Clark, Read On Arizona
Joe Gillie, Delray Beach Center for the Arts
Janet Meeks, City of Delray Beach
NSLA:
• Recognizes and disseminates what works
• Develops and delivers capacity building
offerings for programs and cities
• Connects summer learning to K-12 education
and expanded learning efforts
Access to Meals is Low
 Food Research Action Center found that
nationally only 15% of children who access
free or reduced price meals in the school year
have access to them in the summer (Hunger
Doesn’t Take a Vacation, 2014)
 This number is up slightly (+161,000 children
nationally) for the first time a decade
Access to Programs is Growing
The Afterschool Alliance America After 3pm: Special Report on
Summer national survey key findings include:
 33% of families reported that at least one child participated in
a summer learning opportunity, up from 25% in 2009
 More than half of families want their children to participate,
and 86% support public funding for summer learning
 13% reported their program was no cost, but the average cost
was $250 per week, placing summer learning out of reach for
many families
Parents Don’t Understand Risks
 Research shows that most parents don’t understand
the problem of summer learning loss and do not
prioritize reading for their children in the summer
(2014 Harris Interactive Poll for Reading is Fundamental)
• 60% do not believe their children experience summer
learning loss
• Only 17% think reading is a summer priority
 Summer learning is still stigmatized, particularly for
low-income youth
 Parents do better when they know better
What’s Working?
 Set a big table: meet kids and families where
they are at parks, libraries, schools and home
 Make uptake easy: Identify and disseminate
reading curricula and books
 Use data to target participation of most atrisk children
 Leverage reach of large youth-serving orgs
What’s Challenging?
 Measuring effectiveness of summer reading
programs
 Managing expectations
 Data sharing agreements
 Supporting quality
Summer Learning:
What’s working and what’s next?
Presenter:
Sarah Pitcock, National Summer Learning Association
Lead Discussants:
John Annis, Sarasota County Community Foundation
Terri Clark, Arizona Funder Coalition
Joe Gillie, Delray Beach Center for the Arts
Janet Meeks, City of Delray Beach
Summer Reading Collaborative
myON: A Digital Library
For Every Child In Arizona
It takes only a few simple steps to access myON books:
Go online to: www.myon.com
Click the Log In button and enter the following information:
School Name: Read On Arizona, Digital Library (Begin entering
the first few letters and then select from the drop-down menu)
User name: read
Password: read
Click on Sign In, select a book and start reading!
OUTCOMES:
• Participants: 120,000 statewide
•
Survey of 9,578: 83% reported that
because of summer reading program I
read at least 20 minutes a day.”
OUTCOMES:
•
Over 85,000 books opened and read.
•
Average reading session was 20 minutes daily.
Summer Learning:
What’s working and what’s next?
Presenter:
Sarah Pitcock, National Summer Learning Association
Lead Discussants:
John Annis, Sarasota County Community Foundation
Terri Clark, Arizona Funder Coalition
Joe Gillie, Delray Beach Center for the Arts
Janet Meeks, City of Delray Beach
Driving Toward Scale
 READS: Proven summer reading model
• Access to books
• Books matched to interest and ability
• Comprehension monitored by an adult
* New data forthcoming from Reading is
Fundamental
 Lunch at the Library: Feeding and reading
model
Research on Summer Learning
How Summer Programs Can
Boost Children’s Learning
wallacefoundation.org/MakingSummerCou
nt
Recommended Practices for
Success
wallacefoundation.org/
GettingtoWorkonSummer
Research on Summer Learning
Ready for Fall?
Features first set of findings from
Summer Learning Demonstration
Project in Five Urban School
Districts
wallacefoundation.org/
ReadyForFall
Available at
www.summerlearning.org
A comprehensive look
at federal, state and
local funding for
summer learning
programs
Our Goal:
700,000 youth across the country
reached with summer learning
opportunities through 800 events or
programs.
What Can You Do?
www.summerlearningdaymap.org
Take the
Pledge.
Host an
Event.
Donate.
starting
May 1!
Find
NSLA on social media to keep updated on
#SummerLearning:
Follow us at
Twitter.com/SummerLearning
Like us on
Facebook.com/SmarterSummers
Subscribe to us at
Youtube.com/SummerLearning
THANK YOU!
Contact:
Sarah Pitcock, CEO
National Summer Learning Association
sarah@summerlearning.org