Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

New State Education Standard Explores Ways to Expand Access to Summer Learning

  • 01/08/15

Alexandria, VA – The National Association of State Boards of Education today released the new issue of its journal, The State Education Standard, themed “Summer Learning: Engaging All Students.” The issue focuses on how and why state boards of education should increase the breadth and depth of students’ summer learning opportunities.

Children lose ground in learning if they have do not build skills over the summer months—teachers on average spend a month of the new school year re-teaching old material. Summer learning loss is most acute for low-income youth. For this reason, addressing summer learning policies offers a one-two punch: State policymakers who increase the quality of summer programs and the number of students they serve can make headway on narrowing the achievement gap in their states.

And the time to plan is now, argue Standard authors—well before the last bell of the school year rings.

In the cover story “Accelerating Student Success,” Sarah Pitcock and Bob Seidel of the National Summer Learning Association highlight the important role state policymakers play in developing a vision for summer learning, funding it, and making sure summer programs align with other education objectives.

Another article by RAND’s Catherine H. Augustine and Jennifer Sloan McCombs look at initiatives in six urban districts that yield lessons on how a state’s districts can get a handle on planning, curriculum, teacher selection and training, and funding. And Learning Forward’s Fred Brown offers a straightforward recounting of all the reasons a focus on summer learning is good for students and teachers.

“We have known for a long time that students’ lack of access to summer learning costs in terms of time spent relearning material taught in the previous school year,” says NASBE Executive Director Kristen Amundson. “Now more states are realizing they cannot make headway on bridging the achievement gap if they do not first focus on making engaging learning opportunities available to all students in the summer months.”

Featured

  • Deferred Maintenance Issues Growing at Universities, Gordian Reports

    U.S. colleges and universities are falling increasingly behind on facilities maintenance and repair, according to Gordian’s 13th annual State of Facilities in Higher Education report. The deferred capital renewal burden has reached $156 per gross square foot, an 8% increase over the previous year.

  • Moline-Coal Valley School District to Consolidate Two Schools into New Facility

    The Moline-Coal Valley School District in Moline, Ill., recently broke ground on a new elementary school that will consolidate the students and staff from two existing schools, according to local news. Robert Ontiveros Elementary School will serve as the new home for Lincoln-Irving Elementary School and Willard Elementary School.

  • Zurn Elkay Releases 2025 Sustainability Report

    Zurn Elkay Water Solutions recently announced the release of its annual sustainability report, according to a news release. The 2025 report discusses the organization’s efforts to maintain good environmental stewardship and the solutions provided in helping customers meet sustainability goals.

  • 144-Year-Old High-School Campus Debuts New Academic Facility

    San Diego High School (SDHS) in San Diego, Calif., recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new student services and classroom building; the project is part of a larger SDHS Whole Site Modernization project that began in 2022.